The Demon Lord of the Shield
by OverlordDracoLucifer
Summary: Ever feel like you were born into the wrong world? Ever dream of leaving your current world behind for a different one? Damian Abyss has. This otaku and gamer is about to make that dream a reality, but with this new world against him, will he become a hero, a demon lord, or both? Slightly altered version of Shield Hero with OC Shield Hero. Rated M for mature events and language
1. Prologue - A Dream Born from the Abyss

**Okay, its been a while since I've actually posted any of my work online for others to read, so I'm not gonna lie. I'm feelin really nervous as I type this out, but here goes nothin.**

**Hello there to all who've decided to take the time to give my story a read, and let me just say, thank you all very much for doing so. **

**Now then, as I've said, its been a long time since I've posted anything online for others to read. About three years by now I think, but I've always wanted to take another crack at it, and after I finished watching The Rising of the Shield Hero, the inspiration for this fanfic hit me like a ton of bricks. Seriously, that anime is just awesome! Am I right?!**

**Anyway, my grammar's not the best, I know, and I'm not expecting to have the number one Shield Hero fanfic on this entire site or anything. I'm just writing this story because I got the inspiration for it and I really wanna write again. Plus, every person I've talked to about this told me that I should just go for it, so here I am.**

**Of course, I am open to any and all feedback from those of you who've been nice enough to take the time to read my fic, but please go easy on me, okay? I have really bad anxiety and autism as well, so I don't take criticism or negative feedback nearly as well as other people. But again I say, please don't let that stop you from telling me your thoughts on my story.**

**My story is going to follow the main Shield Hero storyline from the anime/manga/light novel, but with my own OC as the protagonist, as well as my own original touches to the storyline, like most authors on this site do for their favorite anime, video games, etc. Honestly, my one hope for this story is that it'll do better then all my previous works that I've posted online in the past, but sadly ended up not doing as well as Id hoped.**

**Also, a big thanks to one of my personal favorite authors on this site, who also gave me some great advice and encouragement that I will put to good use moving forward with my story. theoneandonlyedster. If you haven't read his Shield Hero fanfic, Rise of a True Shield Hero (Redux), I highly recommend that you check it out.**

**Well, I think that's everything, so please read on, and hopefully you enjoy the prologue.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, its characters, or anything else pertaining to it. The only things I do own are the OC's you'll come to know and hopefully love in the following story.**

Prologue - A Dream Born from the Abyss

It was a foggy morning, the sun was just starting to rise over the horizon, and I stood there on a cliff overlooking the sea, watching it happen. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of the waves washing over the base of the cliff below, and the wind as it blew passed me, making my hair and my cloak sway with it. Then, out of the fog, I started to hear the sounds of footsteps walking towards me. I turned just in time to see a lone figure emerging from the fog, and it was a girl. A girl with animal ears, a tail, and a pair of red eyes that gave off a faint but beautiful glow. I was awestruck for a moment, as she slowly extended her arm, and held out a hand to me. Without hesitation, I proceeded to walk towards her, and reached out to grab her hand, as the sun continued to rise behind me.

Suddenly, I gasped, opening my eyes up wide, waking up in my bedroom, realizing that it was nothing more then a dream. "Another glorious, boring day in paradise." I said to myself after letting out an annoyed sigh, talking in a very sarcastic tone, as I finally managed to scrap myself out of bed at 2 in the afternoon. Id spent the majority of the previous night doing what I usually do with myself these days. Watching anime, playing video games, and wishing that I could trade places with any of the main characters from either.

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Damian. Damian Abyss. 21 years old, high school graduate, college drop out, currently unemployed, and a hard core otaku. I live in America, North Carolina, and am still sharing a home with my parents, and three younger siblings.

I got myself out of bed, stood up, stretched out, then took my usual look at myself in the mirror in my bedroom. I wasn't much to look at, but I wasn't hideous either. My looks were pretty average, if I'm being honest. I stood at about 6 feet in height, with neck length black hair, which was kind of messy, in a way that made it look like I had two small devil horns on my head, one on each side of it, and aqua colored eyes. My body was lean, yet fairly muscular. Despite being an anti social shut-in, I always tried to work out every chance I got, not wanting to let myself go. My outfit of choice for today was a white t-shirt with the demon symbol for wrath on the front of it in red, some black pants, white socks, grey shoes, and a hoodie based on the main outfit of one of my personal favorite anime characters.

It took me about twenty minutes to get dressed, brush my teeth, and do everything else I did to get ready for the day, but I was in no hurry to go downstairs to get some breakfast, which by this time, most other people would call lunch. It was Saturday, and since my mother was a teacher, that meant that she had off from work today. I let out another sigh, and began to make my way down the stairs, unable to ignore my hunger. _"Lets just get this over with." _I thought to myself as I walked, bracing myself for what I knew was coming. Its not that I didn't love my mother. Its just that she, like the rest of my family, didn't understand me one bit. And it wasn't just them. This whole world didn't understand me at all!

As soon as I entered the kitchen, I went straight for the fridge, looking around for what ever I could find to eat. I settled on some leftover pizza from last night's dinner, turning around to find my mother and sister sitting at the table. My mother was reading one of her books, and my sister Julie looked to be doing some work on her laptop. Julie is 15, and a very hard worker, the total opposite of me. She's not even halfway through high school, and she's already studying hard for the career she wants to get when she graduates. _"Tch. Overachiever." _Was the one and only thought on my mind on the subject, as I swallowed a bite of my pizza slice.

Several seconds after I started eating, my dear little sister glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, and was quick to make a witty and insulting remark. "Oh, look who finally woke up. How's that dream of yours coming along Damian? Any closer to achieving it today?" She asked me in a condescending tone, already knowing the answer.

But before I could give her my usual response, my mother turned in my direction, and began her daily assault. "Oh good. You're finally awake. I found an easy job delivering packages that I think would be perfect for you Damian. Or if that doesn't sound good, I went online and found some night classes that you could take that could help you experience a variety of different jobs." She began naming off all the different job opportunities the classes offered, trying once again to get me to find a job, and do something with my life besides watch anime and play games.

After naming off more then thirty different career choices, she finally stopped, and like always, I got annoyed, and shot her down. "Mom, enough already! We go through this everyday, and I don't know how to be any clearer. I don't want some stupid job!"

"Well you have to do something with your life Damian. You cant just live here for the rest of your life. Have you at least thought about going back to your old college and giving it another try? Your brother Alex goes there now too you know, and he's doing great for himself." My mother continued to pester me about my unemployed status, as well as my future, but bringing up my younger brother's current success in life only annoyed me even more.

"This world has nothing to offer me! I don't belong in this world! How many times do I have to tell you that?!" I wasted no time responding, then quickly calmed down, and began to explain my life's plan to my mother for what felt like the hundredth time. As I spoke, I struck a confident pose, with a facial expression and tone to match, using my left hand to cover the left half of my face. "I am the demon lord, Damian Abyss, not some mere human. One day, when the time comes, I will leave this world behind for the world I was meant to be born into all along. When that day arrives, I will attain power far beyond any mortal's comprehension, gather a harem of trusted, skilled, inhuman, and very beautiful female followers, and together, we'll build a kingdom of our very own, with me as their lord!" I spoke with passion and determination, never losing hope that one day my greatest dream would be fulfill. No matter how foolish all of that sounds to anyone who heard it.

Several seconds of silence followed, until Julie broke that silence with a round of mocking laughter. "Ahahahahahahah!" She laughed for a full minute before finally calming down, much to my dismay. "See, this is why you're still single. You're a 21 year old who still lives with his parents, has no future plans, and continues to waste his time chasing fairy tales. When are you gonna finally stop wasting your life Damian?"

Comments like that were nothing new to me. Id heard them many times in my life. My dream had been with me since middle school, and as one can imagine, I got picked on quite a bit for it back then, and all the way through high school as well. As a result, I've never had a girlfriend, or even a regular friend since high school. But things like that still stung to hear out loud, and were more then enough to make me glare at my sister. "My dreams are not a waste! It'll happen for me one day! You'll see! You'll all see damn it!"

"Grow up already! Demons! Magic! Other worlds! Its all just make believe! Get that through your thick skull, then go get a job you lazy, shut-in loser!" Julie yelled back at me, then huffed, and turned back to her laptop to resume her work.

Mother had always hated seeing her children fight, but she felt that she had to say something. So she took a deep breath, then chimed in, speaking in the best understanding and comforting tone she could muster. "Damian, I'm sorry, but your sister does have a point. You've already been fired from five jobs, and you dropped out of college because of these silly fantasies of yours. Your father and I only want the best for you sweetie, so I really think that you need to move passed all of this, and start living in the real world, rather then your own little fantasy world."

My fist clenched in anger, though not because of my mother or my sister. My anger was directed at the world itself, and all the humans in it who've made it the way that it is. I know they say that there's a place for everyone in this world, but not for me. People can go ahead and say what ever they want about me. I stopped caring about other people's opinions of me a long time ago, but that didn't change the fact that I've never once felt at home in the world I was born into. It was a mistake! It just had to be! The lord almighty sent me to the wrong world! I just knew it! And after years of praying to him for a miracle, I eventually lost faith in him and everything he stood for altogether.

That's where all my demon lord talk came from. My family had gone to church every Sunday for years, like others, but that never felt right to me either. And after years of loneliness and depression under the lord's so called "faith", I made the choice to seek faith from another source. The exact opposite of the lord. The devil. Yes, saying that I was a devil follower, and a demon lord myself did earn me more then a few weird looks from people, but it just felt right to me, so I stuck with it. Besides, after almost ten years of taking crap from pretty much every single human being I've ever met, I've also grown a strong, burning hatred for human beings as well.

In my eyes, all humans were the same. Selfish, idiotic, and close minded. No one ever gave me and my ideals a chance, and I was forced to put up with all manner of non-stop stupidity from humans on a daily basis. That's why I shut myself off from the world, and stopped considering myself a human as well. I was a demon lord, and no matter what anyone may say or think, they'll never convince me otherwise. My mind was made up. Still, my constant state of loneliness inevitably drove me to depression, and I couldn't even remember the last time I was really happy, or even the last time I truly felt alive at all. I really did try to make it through college and keep those jobs I had, but its hard to stay motivated when none of it ever feels right.

Somewhere out there, there was another world. One filled with castles, monsters, magic, and heroes. I knew Id find it one day, then leave this world behind for good, and build a better life for myself in that new world. I truly believed that. That had been my life's goal ever since I first fell into the world of anime and gaming, and discovered the isekai genre of course. As soon as I watched my first isekai anime, I knew right then and there that that was my true destiny. Naturally, like my whole demon lord identity, every single person I told this to called me everything. Crazy, insane, a freak, and said that I needed a serious wake up call. But no matter how many times I heard those things, and no matter how many people tried to make me give them up, there was no way I was ever gonna give up on my dreams. Not now. Not ever.

"Urgh! Are you still here?! Hurry up and move out already!" My inner monologue was cut short by the sound of a very familiar, and very rude voice. It came from the youngest member of my family, my brother, Andrew. He was currently 13 years of age, and had just entered the kitchen from the back door of the house, carrying with him a basket filled with chicken eggs. Our parents bought him some chickens and a coop about two years ago, and he's been taking care of them on his own, while also running a small business selling their eggs ever since. And, like the rest of my family, he got on my case every single time we crossed paths. Which, since we lived in the same house, was far more often then I preferred.

Before dignifying him with a response, I quickly finished my very late breakfast, then proceeded to have some orange juice for a drink. "Don't worry. Ill be out of everyone's hair soon. Its only a matter of time until I'm sent to the world I was always meant to be born into." I was feeling a bit calmer then I was a moment ago, having had some time to collect my thoughts, but the abuse wasn't over just yet.

"When?! You've been on this for like ten years now! I say we just have Damian do his whole demon lord routine for some doctors at a mental hospital, and let them take him away." Andrew said in a half joking tone, but I knew better then anyone that he wanted me out of the house more then anyone else.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Julie commented in a slightly more harsh tone, her attention still half focused on her laptop.

That's when mom stepped in, having never enjoyed the sights and sounds of her children fighting amongst themselves. "Andrew! Julie! Don't talk about your brother like that. He'll find his way in this world. We just have to have faith in him." Mom did her best to stay positive, but I could tell that even she was nearing the end of her rope with me as well. One time, I even heard her ask herself "Where did I go wrong with him?" Still, she and my father have refused to give up on me, despite my years of fantasy talk and employment attempt failures. Honestly, sometimes even I was a little surprised they hadn't kicked me out of their house long ago, but its not like I just locked myself in my room, watched anime, and played video games all day, everyday.

While my parents were at work, and my siblings were at school, I was at home, cleaning the house, and doing everything else I could to earn my keep. Doing laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming the house, and anything else my mother left on the chores list before going to work each day. It might not have been a real job, but even I knew that I had to earn my keep somehow. Admittedly, I mainly just did the work so she wouldn't end up throwing me out, and therefore, I could continue to carry out my anime filled, shut-in lifestyle. But in the back of my mind, I was still extremely grateful that my parents have been willing to put up with me for as long as they have. It was a clear sign of just how much they cared for me, despite how I acted, which is why, while it may not have seemed like much, I always put forth my best effort when tackling these household chores, and my parents definitely seemed to appreciate it.

Yet another sigh escaped my lips after the scene that had just taken place, as I scratched the back of my head, then turned, and headed for the door the lead to the garage. "You're wrong mom. There is no place for me in this world. So do me a favor. When my dream is fulfilled, Ill likely never return to this world, and vanish from it without a trace. So don't waste your time looking for me. Just know that Ill be in another world, the likes of which no one in this world could possibly imagine, living the life I've always dreamed of having. In the meantime, I think Ill head down to the beach for some fishing. If I don't get my lucky break today, Ill be back around dusk." I explained to my mother and two younger siblings, getting myself ready to head out.

However, before walking out the door, Andrew just couldn't resist getting in one final put down while he had the chance. "Ya know what? I hope your weird dream does come true one day, and soon. And don't worry, no one will bother looking for you when you disappear, because no one in this world will miss you!" He yelled at me in a cold, unforgiving tone, putting forth his best effort to hurt me.

I stopped dead in my tracks after that, and silence fell over the room, with my mother and sister turning to Andrew with shock, not believing that he just said something so cold and mean to me.

Meanwhile, I just stood there with my back to them all, staying silent as well. Many hurtful things have been said to me in my life, but that thing my own brother just said to me really stung in the worst possible way. Be that as it may, I continued on my way out the door, turning the knob, opening it, then proceeding out into the garage of my home. I closed the door behind me before any of them had a chance to say anything else, and never offered any sort of retort myself. _"Whatever..."_

It took me all of three minutes to gather my fishing rod, lures, and everything else I knew Id need for my fishing trip to the beach, having done so many times before. It also helped that the beach was only about twenty minutes from my house on foot. Fishing wasn't anywhere near as dear to my heart as anime and video games were, but I still enjoyed it a great deal. Additionally, it was one of the only things that got me up and out of the house, so my family enjoyed it quite a bit too. As I took my first few steps outside the garage, I quickly let out an annoyed grunt, shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight, as it shinned down right into my eyes. "Urgh...Should've grabbed some sunglasses."

But then, I was met with a slightly unsettling surprise, as my father's truck suddenly pulled into the driveway. He normally didn't get home until around six pm, so this sudden turn of events had me mildly confused as well. Dear old dad managed his own auto body shop in town, and made some pretty nice cash selling tires as well. He brought his truck to a stop, then opened the door, exited the driver's seat, and smiled and waved at me afterward. "Damian. Good to see you up and out of your room. Going fishing?"

I gave him a single nod, and a small wave back before giving him an answer. "Yeah. I've just gotta get out of here right now. Ill be back around dusk. And while we're on the subject, you're home early dad. Why's that?"

"I had some work to do around the house, so I asked my boss if I could leave early today. As you can see, he said yes." Dad answered my question, looking pretty happy that he was given the rest of the day off from work. He may have been the manager, but he only managed his one shop, so unfortunately he still had to take orders from a boss. While I did take care of most of the chores around the house, dad was still the family's handy man, who was always there to fix something if and when it was broken, as well as handle any home improvement projects he and mom decided to undertake. In this particular case, I knew that he was referring to the basement. A few days ago, he and mom made the decision to replace the carpeted floors with tiles down there.

"I see. Well, lucky you. Now, if you'll excuse me." I proceeded to walk passed him, but I quickly halted to another stop when I suddenly heard my father speak to me once again.

He turned to me, and gestured to his truck, making me an offer. "Hold on a second Damian. I can give you a ride if you want. I don't mind."

I listened, but didn't turn to face him, doing my best to hide my hurt feelings from him. "Its alright dad, thanks. Its only a twenty minute walk, and I could use the exercise. Later." I made another attempt to leave, but was once again stopped by the sound of my father's voice.

My dad sighed before he continued, his smile fading from his face, in favor of a more knowing and concerned expression, with a tone to match. "You cant run away from responsibility for the rest of your life Damian. You know me, your mother, and your siblings only say and do the things that we do because we all care about you, and we don't wanna see you go through life sad and alone forever, right?"

I remained quiet for about thirty seconds before responding, taking a nice, long deep breath, then turning to face my father again. "...Yeah, I know. I'm not trying to avoid responsibility dad, I just don't fit in anywhere in this world. I've tried just about everything, and nothing's worked out. What am I supposed to do? Get a job I know Ill hate, then work for the rest of my life until I die? No thanks. My life in this world is only the beginning. Once my dream is fulfilled, Ill have everything I've ever wanted and more. So much more." I sounded so sure of myself, a small grin appearing on my face without me even realizing it.

"Well, what about fishing? You seem to like fishing. How about pursuing a career in that?" My father made me a suggestion, just as my mother had tried to do inside our house several minutes ago.

"No thanks. Fishing is more of a hobby for me, and I don't even do it that often. I cant see myself doing this for the rest of my life, ya know?" But just like with my mother, I shot down his job suggestion as fast as he'd pitched it to me, losing my grin in the process.

However, dad wasn't done with me just yet, as he quickly switched gears on me. Going from career options, to fatherly advice, changing the tone of his voice to better fit the situation. "Listen Damian, I know you're tired of hearing about how impossible that dream of yours is, so lets assume for a minute that it does come true for you. You get transported to another world, where things are much different from here, then you gain some magical powers and skills, and are tasked with the job of saving that entire world from some evil force or something."

It was rare that my father, or anyone for that matter, talked to me about my dream in this way. He definitely had my attention, and I was curious to see where he was going with this. "I'm listening. So what's your point?" I told everyone in my life about my hopes and dreams at least once, so I knew my dad pretty much had all the details to go on with his explanation.

Father then walked over to me, and gently placed his hand on my shoulder before continuing to offer me his advice. "I don't deny that if that ever happens to you, you'd make a great demon lord and ruler of your own kingdom Damian, but you must know that no one starts out that way, even in other worlds Ill bet. You'll have to do a lot of work to make it to that point, and you'll have to learn how to trust at least some people. I also know how you feel about others, but how do you expect to find the good people in the world if you refuse to open up to anyone at all? I'm sure that one day, you'll meet people that you can trust and depend on for anything and everything, and they'll feel the same way about you too, but only if you can take that first step. What I'm trying to say is that you're gonna have to grow up one day Damian. It takes hard work, responsibility, and trust to make your dreams a reality. That's true in any world. Not just this one. Remember that, and I'm sure you'll do just fine son. Now go on and catch yourself some fish, and try not to get into any trouble, okay?" He finished his words of wisdom, then gave me a smile filled with encouragement, as well as a few good pats on the shoulder.

Thanks to all my anime and gaming knowledge, I knew he was right, so I made no effort to argue with him. In almost every single anime I've seen, the main character always starts out like me. A loser with no friends, and little to nothing going for him as a person and in life, but after overcoming trial after trial, even someone like him or her ended up becoming a real badass. And in every RPG, the player always starts out at level 1, and has to work his or her way up to the higher levels to achieve real power. So, I returned my father's smile with one of my own, feeling rather grateful that someone in my life took the time to encourage me and my dreams, rather then just put me and them down for what might've felt like the millionth time. "Once again, I know. Thanks dad. Believe me, once I make it to that new world, Ill do what ever it takes to make my dreams a reality. Ill work harder then anyone ever has before, Ill gather those I know I can count on to join my cause, and Ill finally become a true demon lord."

A few chuckles escaped my father's lips after that, but I could tell that he wasn't laughing at me, so it didn't bother me. "Just make sure ya don't get yourself killed Damian." And with those final words, he turned, heading inside the house, leaving me on my own.

"Never." I said to myself after dad was gone, shaking my head from side to side two times, having absolutely no plans to die once I finally entered the new world. Now that that was done, I turned around once more, and began my walk to the beach, doing some hard thinking on the way there. I knew that starting from square one in a world where Id likely know next to nothing about the people, the world, and the culture was gonna be anything but easy, but I never expected it to be. To make my dreams a reality, become a powerful demon lord, build my own kingdom, and a harem of beautiful non-human girls, I was more then willing to put in the work, unlike the world I was currently trapped in.

X

After a good twenty minute or so long walk, the sounds of the ocean waves were coming in loud and clear, accompanied by the sea breeze and smell of salt water in the air. Id arrived at the beach, which like most days, had a good number of people around. Some played in the sand or in the water, while others just laid back on their beach towels or lounge chairs and just relaxed, enjoying the bright and sunny weather we were having. There were even some other fishermen around as well, but I could see that they were taking up most of the space on the dock, so I was forced to look for my own spot on the sand. It cost me another ten minutes, but I eventually found a nice, quiet spot on the beach, far enough away from all the people. Once I finally had my spot, I set all my fishing gear down, and got my rod set up. As opposed to bait, I usually used artificial lures instead. After attaching my lure of choice to the end of my line, I cast it out into the open ocean as far as I could.

Time went on from there, and before I knew it, four hours had gone by. Id managed to catch a few decent sized fish, but I threw all of them back, as it was always my policy to catch and release, unless I absolutely had to keep the fish in question. By this time, I was sitting in the sand, with my fishing rod in one hand, getting ready to call it a day and head back home. The tide was beginning to come in, and the wind had been blowing non-stop for over an hour, as I struggled to keep the sand out of my eyes. "Yeah, definitely should've brought some sunglasses." I said to myself, while starting to reel my line back in.

By this time, the beach was mostly empty, as everyone else had either gone home, or was getting ready to do so. Once my line was back in, I packed up all my fishing gear, got back on my feet, and began my walk back home. "Woah! Oof!" I didn't get very far though, tripping on something sticking out of the sand, and falling face first into said sand. I dropped all my fishing gear when I fell, and was spitting sand out of my mouth when I got back up. "Yeah, that's exactly what I needed today. A face full of sand." I said to myself in an annoyed and sarcastic tone, cleaning the sand off my face before opening my eyes to see what it is that I tripped on.

To my surprise, and curiosity, what I saw what the corner of a thick, hard cover book sticking out of the sand. It definitely wasn't there when I arrived, so I just figured the wind must've blown the sand that was covering it away. I also figured that someone must've left it here and forgot about it, and with curiosity getting the best of me, I decided to pull it out and have a closer look. So I grabbed the book, pulled it out of the sand, and brushed more sand off the cover to get a clear look at it. "The four cardinal weapons, huh?" I questioned as I read the title, having never heard of anything like that before. The same could be said for the picture I saw on the cover as well, so I opened the book and started reading it, hoping to get some answers. Straight away, I was surprised yet again by how clear and legible the pictures and writing inside was, after the book had been buried in the sand for who knows how long.

"In order to fight against the waves of catastrophe, four heroes will be summoned from another world to fight against this great evil." I spoke the words I was reading out loud, and kept on reading, my curiosity growing more and more with each line I read, as my otaku side was quickly taking over. "Each hero wields a legendary weapon. A sword, a spear, a bow, and a shield." The part about the shield caught me off guard, as it wasn't technically a weapon. Still, Id seen and played through several anime's and video games with character that fought with shields, and they usually did pretty well for themselves. "Hmmm...If it meant I could be one of these heroes summoned from another world, Id gladly be this world's shield hero. No question." I said to myself without even a single hint of doubt in my voice, then I continued reading, finding this book to be very interesting.

"These four cardinal heroes are probably the male protagonists of the story, but where's the female protagonist of the story? Every good story needs a nice, beautiful, quirky girl to follow the main protagonist around, fight alongside him, and get into all kinds of funny, or romantic moments. There's no way its this princess character. She's a total bitch. This world might be different, but I guess one thing's still the same. Humans are the worst." Despite my displeasure with the princess, I continued to read through the book anyway, finding very detailed passages on the sword, spear, and bow heroes. But when I got to the pages on the shield hero, I was surprised, confused, and a little let down to find that they were all blank. "Wait...blank? For real? What the heck? The author did a great job writing about the other three heroes, but when he gets to the shield hero he just stops? Well that's dumb."

My disappointment was cut short, and replaced with pure shock, as the pages of the book began to glow, catching me off guard. "Wait a minute, what's this?" That was all I had time to say, as my brain was having a hard time processing this very sudden turn of events, not that it had the time to. Within seconds, the glow got brighter and brighter, causing me to shield my eyes again. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I couldn't help but gasp, looking around to find myself in a completely different and unknown area. It looked like I was moving, but I never even got back on my feet. My brain was going a mile a minute, until it all went black.

I had no idea what was happening to me, but if I was being honest, I didn't necessarily hate it.

**And that just about sums it up. The prologue is over and done. Its purpose was just to give you all a basic idea of what kind of person Damian is, and what his life was like before the Shield Hero storyline begins for him. However, do NOT let the prologue deceive you. There is far more to Damian then what you've just read. His full history, motives, and everything else will be told at certain points throughout the story. I know I could've told you all of that here and now, but Id rather do so in the real story, rather then the prologue. **

**I do apologize if that upsets any of you at all, but I've always been the kind of guy who prefers not to keep his readers guessing, and not give everything away right up front. So sorry, but you'll have to continue reading to learn more about Damian and what he's all about.**

**Also, before you decide to just stop reading my story right here and now, Id really appreciate it if you could at least take the time to read the description at the beginning of chapter 1. Hopefully it'll lay any concerns or problems you may have to rest, but if not, then I thank you for at least taking the time to read it and the prologue of my fic.**

**I'm well aware that Damian is far from the title of "Best Protagonist Ever", but he's my protagonist, and I'm stickin with him. Besides, he gets A LOT better, and more mature as the story goes on, as the description at the beginning of chapter 1 will explain to you in greater detail.**

**Anyway, if you have any questions, please feel free to comment here or PM me, but while its on my mind, I think Ill clarify a few questions you might have already.**

**Why did I decide to make an American protagonist as opposed to a Japanese one? Its because I'm from America myself, and while I am a huge fan of anime, and Japan as a whole, I don't with to upset anyone by making any mistakes in terms of culture or anything like that. It seems odd, I know, but I thought it best to just stick to what I know and play it safe.**

**How often do I plan on having chapters up? To be honest, I'm not really sure yet. Nor am I sure of how long each one will be. Right now, I'm just writing whenever I can and doing my best.**

**Why did I choose to write all of Damian's lines and thoughts in first person format? Because I thought it might make the story a bit easier to understand. I got the idea from theoneandonlyedster's Shield Hero fanfic, and I thought it was a good and interesting way of writing. And if your reading this Ed, I hope its okay with you that I did this. Thanks.**

**The actual story begins next time with chapter one picking up with when the four cardinal heroes are summoned to Melromarc. We all know how Naofumi responded and reacted to all of that, but how will Damian decide to do things? I could tell you, but it'd be far more fun to show you next time.**

**Until then, this is OverlordDracoLucifer, signing out! See ya next time!**


	2. Ch 1 - Here to Stay

**Phew! So sorry that took so long everyone, but I'm sure you know how life can be sometimes. I've had so many appointments to keep this past week, not to mention several family gatherings. But here it is. Chapter 1! Your patience has been greatly appreciated.**

**And speaking of appreciation, Id like to take this time to thank everyone who favorited, followed, and commented on my story so far. All of you are awesome, and while Lu Bane Na's review might not have been completely positive, I still appreciate it. You've given me a lot to think about, and Ill definitely keep all of that in mind moving forward with this story. So once again, thank you very much to each and every one of you. I hope you'll all continue to show your support as the story progresses, and that you'll enjoy what you read of course.**

**Id also like to take this time to lay one particular concern to rest. I was planning on saving this for a later chapter in the story, but seeing as how I've gotten so many concerns over it, I think I should just tell you all. I'm not sure how many of you exactly, but some of you seem to think that Damian is not alright upstairs, or has schizophrenia, because of his whole demon lord thing. Well I'm here to tell you that that is not the case at all. Listen, Damian isn't insane or anything. He's fully aware that he's a human. He just chooses not to view himself as one. **

**I don't know if anyone out there has seen One Punch Man Season 2, but Damian is a lot like Garou in that sense. Just as Garou is a human, but calls himself a monster, Damian is a human who calls himself a demon lord. Both of their reasons for doing so are very similar as well. Garou himself has always been a big inspiration to me, ever since his debut in the One Punch Man story.**

**I hope no one minds the small spoiler, but Damian eventually comes to grips with his humanity and such. Damian also matures more and more as the story goes on. Its called CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, and all writers use it. As for when or how that happens, you'll all just have to keep reading, wait, and see for yourselves.**

**I hope that's at least kind of the explanation some of you were looking for. If not, that's fine too, but I'm going to continue to make my story my way. I understand if you don't like it, but please keep your negativity to yourselves. Thank you.**

**Well, I think that's all for now. Time to begin the first chapter! And just like before, I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or anything to do with it. I only have rights to my OC, Damian Abyss.**

Chapter 1 - Here to Stay

For at least a full minute, all I could see was darkness. Just vast, seemingly endless darkness. Then, from out of that darkness, I suddenly came face to face with a solid, flat surface. I had landed on the floor of someone's home, and hit my head pretty hard upon doing so. However, much to my continued surprise and confusion, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as one would think for some reason. Before I had time to process any of this, I heard some new voices in front of me.

"It worked! The summoning was a success! The four cardinal heroes are here!" The voices sounded excited, relieved, and very happy, but I hadn't the foggiest idea of why.

I began to slowly look up at them, getting back to my feet, but then another of the robed men in front of me spoke up before I had the chance to do so. "Please brave heroes, wont you save our world from ruin?"

"What?" Three more voices all said at the same time, sounding like they came form my left side. I then turned to see three more young men, like myself. I quickly deduced that they were in their late teens or early 20's, again just like me.

_"Who the heck are these guys? And for that matter, where am I? And what is going on here?" _I thought to myself, doing my best to take stock of the situation before speaking up, as I started looking all around the room for answers. My gaze ended up stopping on my right arm, as I finally noticed a metal shield with a green gemstone in the center of it had appeared out of nowhere. _"Okay, that wasn't there a minute ago. It looks like these other guys all have weapons too."_ I glanced at the other three young men that were inside the magic circle on the ground with me, taking a mental note of their sword, spear, and bow, respectively.

Just then, I gasped, my gaze pointing straight down, finally noticing the magic circle I was standing on. _"Wait a minute, magic circle? And I heard those robed guys mention summoning and heroes before. Could it be?...Is this for real?..." _My entire body began to shake a little, as I recalled the details of the book I read just moments before appearing in this place. Given everything else that had happened, I was beginning to get a very, very good feeling inside.

While I was deep in thought, the robed men continued to speak to me and the other three people standing beside me, still pleading for our help, but I wasn't listening at the time. "Please. Our world is in desperate need of saving. Wont you please lend us your aid?"

The other three young men were listening though, but it still looked like they were taking stock of the situation themselves. "What do you mean your world needs saving?" The one holding the bow was first to question the robed men, then they all waited for a response.

One of the robed men stepped forward, and began to give us an explanation, but my mind was still somewhere else at the moment. "Its a long story, and its rather complicated, but the short version is that you four are the cardinal heroes of legend. Our world teeters on the brink of destruction, so we beg of you cardinal heroes, please save our world." The man bowed, as did the other men behind him, begging for our help.

That was when I finally spoke up for the first time since being summoned to this place, as I finally came to the realization that Id been summoned to a new world. One clearly filled with magic, and where there's magic, there's monsters, and heroes to fight them. For the first time in almost seven years, a big grin appeared on my face, and I could feel my heart rate increasing, feeling like it might burst with excitement. Then, without realizing it, I yelled out the words Id been dying to say for a long time, as loud as I could, unable to contain my excitement. "HELL YEAH! I JUST KNEW IT! ITS FINALLY HAPPENED! ITS REAL DAMN IT!" It had been a long time since Id felt so alive, or alive at all actually.

My very sudden outburst was more then enough to catch everyone in the room off guard, causing everyone to jump out of shock, as all eyes fell on me. The robed men were very confused by this, and the other three young men looked at me like I was a crazy person.

As the excitement slowly settled, and I came back to my senses, I got my grin under control, and began to look around me, noticing all the stares. A small blush appeared on my face, as I let out some nervous laughter. "Oh, sorry. I just couldn't help myself. I kinda missed part of what was said, so mind filling me in please?" I felt mildly embarrassed from letting all that slip out, but I didn't really care that much. The massive amount of pure joy I was feeling far outweighed any other feelings I was having at this particular moment in time. Id finally left my boring world behind, and have entered a new world. And to top it all off, I was apparently one of this new world's four great heroes of legend, calling to mind the book Id read before arriving here once again.

After a brief moment of adjusting and regaining his composure, the one holding the sword was the one to explain everything I missed, as well as give his own answer to the robed men who pleaded with us for help. "Basically, these people summoned all of us from our home world, and are asking us to help save their world from some kind of disaster. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I refuse."

After that one line from him, it was my turn to be shocked, and very confused. I looked at the sword hero like he was the insane one here, and I quickly gave the same look to the bow hero and the spear hero, as they both refused as well.

"You can send us back to our home world, right? Do that, and maybe we'll talk." The spear hero said to the robed men in a rather cold tone, like he was more concerned with his own well being, rather then theirs.

The sword hero then chimed in again, stepping forward, and pointing his sword at the men in robes. "You dragged us here from our homes out of the blue, without any sort of warning. Don't you feel guilty about that at all?"

"Also, what if you throw us out after we help you? That would leave us with nothing. No where to go. With absolutely no knowledge of this new world we've been sucked into." The bow hero was quick to add to the growing list of complaints, acting like the problems of this new world didn't matter to him in the slightest.

And finally, the spear hero gave the robed men an ultimatum, his tone growing more smug with every word. "If we do decide to stay and save your world, how well are you willing to accommodate us? Depending on your answer, we might decide to become your enemies, instead of your allies."

I couldn't stand listening to this any longer, so I took a deep breath, then raised my voice at my fellow heroes, telling them exactly what was on my mind. "Are you kidding me?!" Though not as surprised as the first time, all three of them were surprised again to hear me yell out again, as they all turned to me, but I continued before they had a chance to comment on my second outburst. "Don't you three get it?! Haven't you ever seen an isekai anime before?! We've been summoned to another world! One where magic is clearly commonplace! As the heroes of this world, we've been given the biggest golden opportunity anyone from our world has ever been given! In this world, we could be so much better then we ever could be back in our boring world! There's no way we, or anyone else for that matter, will ever get a chance like this again, and your talking about going home right off the bat?! If you guys wanna go back to that dumb little world and get some stupid jobs, working nine to five someday, be my guests!"

I didn't stop there, turning to face the robed men, my enthusiasm staying strong. "As for me, I'm stayin right here! Screw our old world! I don't care what kinds of life threatening dangers await me in this world, Ill gladly stay and be your hero sirs." I took a few deep breaths after that, calming myself down, feeling like I made my point. _"And once I gain enough power, money, and status, Ill build my own kingdom, and rule over it with my harem of inhuman girls. Not as its king, but as its demon lord." _I thought that last part to myself, deciding to keep my true motives a secret for now. Still, that didn't stop me from letting a few excited chuckles escape my lips, as I began to picture all of that in my head, knowing that I could actually make it all a reality now.

Once again, all eyes are on me, with pretty much the same reactions as before. Only this time, everyone got a little more of an idea of what I was all about. Still, while each of them could kind of understand where I was coming from, the other three heroes all still thought that I had at least a little bit of insanity inside of me at this point.

Silence had fallen over the room for about a minute, until one of the men in robes cleared his throat, and began to speak to all four of us once again. "We are grateful to you, sir shield hero, and if the rest of you are still unsure, then we insist that you have an audience with our king. I'm sure he'd like to see you all, and you can discuss your terms with him."

After hearing that, the sword hero lowered his weapon, and gave them an answer. "Fine then. Show us the way."

"I guess it will be more efficient to speak to their leader directly." The bow hero added, as he and the sword hero were the first ones to follow the robed men out of the room.

"Tch, doesn't matter who we talk to if ya ask me. Our terms wont change." The spear hero commented in a smug tone, then followed after the group as well.

Before doing the same, I let out a sigh, my mood a bit dampened after hearing that. _"I can already tell that I'm not gonna get along with these guys."_

X

The robed men lead me and the other heroes up a spiral staircase, and judging by the sheer size of it, and the materials used to make it, I quickly deduced that we were most likely in one of the towers of their king's castle. As soon as we passed a window, we all took the opportunity to look outside, and take in the view of the new world that we found ourselves in. However, the other three heroes really only gave it a quick glance, but I really took the time to admire it with my own two eyes, really taking my time to take it all in. It really looked like a city from the middle ages, with absolutely none of the present day technology we were all used to back home.

I was the first one to comment on it, a bright smile on my face as I did. "Looks like the main city of an RPG I played once. If I wasn't already sure this isn't a dream, I might not believe it."

"This world has a kind of Mediterranean vibe to it, at least that's the impression I'm getting from the air here." The sword hero chimed in, still sounding very calm and collected.

A thought then crossed the mind of the bow hero, as he turned to face me. "Speaking of locations, I'm guessing from the way you talk that your an American. Am I right?"

I turned away from the window, and nodded at the bow hero, confirming his suspicions. "That's right. I am. And if you don't mind me asking, where are you three from?" I questioned the other three heroes, already having a pretty good idea of the answer though.

And I was right. They all answered me, telling me that they were from Japan, the central hub of everything that I held dear back in the world we came from. I did find it kind of off being the odd man out, and I thought it was weird that of the four cardinal heroes, one was summoned from a completely different part of the world then the others, but I pushed all of that out of my mind, as we all continued up the stairs.

I was deep in thought for several seconds after that, until I finally noticed something hiding in the lower right hand corner of my vision. _"Huh? How did I not notice that before?" _Naturally, I got curious and tried to reach out and poke it with the pointer finger of my right hand, but that failed completely. However, as soon as I focused a little harder on it, the icon I saw began to glow, then it quickly expanded, catching me by surprise. I near fell backwards down the stairs, but thankfully, I was able to maintain my balance, and took a look at the images I was now seeing.

I grinned, starting to get excited again, reading over everything that had appeared before me. I saw my name in the upper left side, right next to a shield symbol, with three different colored bars directly below that. I saw all of that in the center of my vision too, along with an assortment of other stats and information, including my age, gender, level, offensive power, defensive power, and plenty more. _"Wow! It really is just like an RPG. So far, this world is awesome." _I thought to myself, then quickly snapped out of it, nearly tripping on the last stair, as we finally reached the top. I was quick to make the status screen vanish from my view, and catch up to the others, knowing Id get lost in such a big place on my own.

X

From there, the robed men lead us to the throne room, where the king was waiting for us. As soon as we set foot inside, we all took a look around, seeing just the kind of interior design one would expect from a throne room. Thrones on the other side of the room, very fancy rugs and curtains, and wall to wall guards, each with armor and spears. We also notice a group of people off to the right side of the room, all dressed in equally fancy and expensive looking outfits. I couldn't speak for the other three heroes, but I assumed that these people were probably noblemen who'd come to witness the arrival of the four cardinal heroes.

The four of us continued to walk forward, then stopped a few yards away from the steps leading to the thrones, all of us looking up at the man sitting in one of them, as he began to address us. "So you are the four cardinal heroes of legend. I welcome you to the kingdom of Melromarc. I am her king, Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. Please identify yourselves brave heroes." He seemed very respectable and regal, just like one would expect from a king.

One by one, the four of us stepped forward, introducing yourselves, with the sword hero going first, his tone still a bit on the emotionless side. "Ren Amaki. High school student. 16 years old."

After him, the spear hero took his turn. "You can call me Motoyasu Kitamura. I'm a college student, and I'm 21." He spoke with more confidence in himself, although some might use the word "cockiness" to describe his tone, as I did.

"I suppose its my turn now." The bow hero went next, speaking in a friendly tone, with an equally friendly smile on his face. "I'm Itsuki Kawasumi. I'm still in high school, and I'm 17 years old."

I then stepped forward, about to take my turn, but before I had a chance to speak, the king started talking again, completely cutting me off. "I see. Ren. Motoyasu. And Itsuki. It is an honor to meet each of you."

My expression soured a bit at this point, as I raised my voice at the king. "Hey! Rude much?! Ya missed one your royal highness!" I used very obvious sarcasm while calling him "royal highness", annoyed that he just out right ignored me the way he did. I knew that he, and everyone else in the room could see me very well.

The king then turned to face me, looking a bit annoyed himself, but only for a brief moment. He quickly composed himself, and responded to me. "Oh yes. Please forgive me."

Itsuki then leaned over, whispering to me, while all the guards and noblemen in the room looked at me with some rather obvious displeasure. "Hey, you cant just yell at a king like that. You have to show more respect."

I glanced at him, and whispered back, calmer then I was a moment ago, but still fairly annoyed. "Why should I? You all saw him just flat out ignore me." I then turned back to the king, took a deep breath, and recomposed myself before introducing myself to him. And as I spoke, a smirk appeared on my face, as I got an idea I was sure no one would be able to ignore. Stepping forward, I struck a confident pose, placing my left hand over the left side of my face, like I was trying to hide it from the eyes of everyone present. "My name is Damian Abyss. I'm 21 years old, and I am also the one chosen by the underworld to become the great and powerful demon lord of this world. You were wise to invoke my power your majesty. Though my true powers lay dormant now, one day they will awaken to their full potential, and I will use them to destroy all those who are foolish enough to stand against this kingdom."

Many gasps erupted from the people that were present in this room, as they all began to whisper among themselves after my little performance. Some began to grow concerned, believing the words I spoke to be true, wondering if they'd made a mistake in summoning me to their world. While others, like Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, just looked at me like I was the weirdest person or thing they'd ever seen in their entire lives, not taking me seriously at all. Of course, it helped that Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki had already seen a good amount of craziness from me before now, as they were beginning to grow numb to it by this time. Instead of mentally freaking out like they did before, they just looked at me with unamused facial expressions. Like I just told a joke that wasn't funny at all.

Despite everything that Id just said, the king seemed oddly unfazed, like he was still ignoring me. He raised his hand to his fellow noblemen, which seemed to work well in calming them down and making them be quiet. The king then turned back to the other three heroes, and began to give us some answers. "Now then, please allow me to explain why we've summoned you all here."

I lost my smirk and let out an annoyed grunt at this, but then stepped backwards to rejoin my fellow heroes, as we all listened to what the king had to say. In all honesty, I wasn't too surprised that no one took me seriously. I was used to that, but it bugged me that the king was doing his best to ignore me. I began to feel mildly uneasy in the pit of my stomach, narrowing my eyes at the king slightly as he spoke to us.

The king told us in great detail about the calamity his kingdom, and the world around his kingdom was facing. Basically, disasters that have come to be known as waves have begun to plague this world and everyone in it. They've only had one so far, but apparently, it was so devastating that the entire kingdom has been left in fear. Many knights and adventurers lost their lives fighting it off, and if nothing is done, the world will come to an end. The king also tells us that every country has what's known as a dragon hourglass, which has the power to predict when and where a wave will come. And right now, the second wave will arrive in less then a month.

Me and my fellow heroes listened to every word from the king, with mixed feelings on the subject, but we all waited patiently for the king to finish speaking before stating our opinions. "As regrettable as this is to admit, we underestimated the ferocity of the waves. After we narrowly survived the first one, it became clear to us that we needed the four cardinal heroes of legend. That is why we summoned you four to our world, and as you have heard, we have no time to waste."

As the king spoke, I began to notice something odd. Everything that had happened so far, the summoning of the four cardinal heroes, the calamity this world was facing, it was all the exact same story I read about in the book I found on the beach back in my world, just before I was summoned to this one. This raised more questions within my head. Who left that book on the beach in the first place? Were Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all summoned the same way? Were the parts of the book about the sword, spear, and bow heroes, respectively, blank for them too? And would our story end up playing out differently then the one in the book, or would it all turn out to be the same?

The other heroes weren't nearly as deep in thought as I was, but the sound of Ren's voice did bring me back to reality. "Okay, I think we've all got the gist now. However, I'm sure you didn't summon us all here and expect us to save you for free, correct?" The tone of his voice was enough to show that he already knew the answer.

The man standing at the king's side, likely his prime minister or something of that nature, gave us all an answer to Ren's question. "But of course. Once you repel all the waves, I can assure you that you will all be rewarded most handsomely."

Motoyasu was the first to respond to that, letting his smug grin and tone show again as he did. "Really? Well, if that's how it is, then I guess we can help you out."

"As long as you continue to reward us for our efforts, we'll work with you, but don't think for a second that that means you can control us." Ren quickly added, still looking and sounding like the most serious one of the four of us.

"Exactly. We wont put up with any of you looking down on us." Itsuki's tone and expression were still significantly more friendly then Ren's, but he clearly agreed with everything Ren said none the less.

After hearing those words from my fellow heroes, I began to let out some small amounts of laughter, striking another, similar pose before adding on my own thoughts on the subject. "Mere humans could never hope to tame a demon lord, so don't even think about trying." Is what I said out loud, but my inner thoughts were very different, as I glanced at Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki once more. _"The more these guys talk, the more I feel like trying to make friends with them would be a colossal waste of time."_

The next thing the king tells us is to check our statuses, and I quickly deduce that he's talking about the little icon in the lower right hand corner of my vision that I found earlier, while we were walking up the spiral staircase. So I opened it for a second time, giving it another look, as Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all pulled up their status screens as well. My status screen translated all the words into English for me, and I figured that Ren's, Motoyasu's, and Itsuki's were all translated into Japanese for them as well. It sounded like Itsuki didn't know what the king was talking about at first, so Ren filled him in, talking like he knew about it from the very second we arrived in this world. _"Know it all." _I thought to myself, then closed my status screen, already having a pretty good idea of what it was and how it worked.

The king's prime minister then went on to tell us that this was called status magic, and that it was exclusive to us heroes. He then told us that our next step was to go out on an adventure, in order to further develop our legendary weapons, and ourselves too.

_"In other words, this world really is just like an RPG, but I think it goes without saying that we don't get extra lives and respawns here." _That much was obvious to someone like me, who'd seen plenty of anime and played through dozens of RPG's.

My fellow heroes' concerns seemed to be elsewhere though, as Motoyasu started asking if we could use other weapons until the legendary ones the kingdom gave us were stronger, striking a few poses of his own as he spoke, trying to look like a natural at wielding a spear right away.

At the same time, Ren and Itsuki were more sensible, as they talked about the four of us having to do some serious training and leveling up from this point onward. I could definitely agree with the two of them on that much at least.

"Oh yes, there is one more thing that you should all be aware of, brave heroes." The prime minister spoke up once again, making us all turn to see what he had to say this time. "In case any of you were thinking about teaming up and forming a party together, I regret to be the one to tell you that that is impossible. You will each have to form parties of your own that will aid you on your adventures."

"Huh? What do you mean by impossible?" Itsuki questioned the minister, and the rest of us had to admit, we were all curious as to the answer of that question.

"It has been said that the four legendary weapons repel one another. If you try to work together, your weapons would only hinder each other's progress." As he spoke, a warning screen appeared in front of each of us, confirming what he was saying to be true.

I shrugged this information off quickly, not bothered by it at all. _"Meh. Like I even wanted to team up with these guys anyway. If ya ask me, this warning is more like a blessing."_

"The sun has begun to set. You are all more then welcome to stay here for the night, then leave on your adventures in the morning. In the meantime, we shall gather the greatest and strongest adventurers to form your parties." With their explanations complete for now, the king invited us to stay in his castle, which we were all grateful for.

A young woman then walked over to us from the right side of the room, smiling at us, gesturing for us to follow her. "We have quarters ready for each of you, brave heroes. If you'll please follow me, Ill show you to them."

With our meeting with the king complete, the four of us followed the young woman out of his throne room. After we were gone, some people in the room began to whisper among themselves. As one would surmise, the gossip was about us, the four cardinal heroes, but not all of it was good.

X

About two hours went by after that, and in that time, me, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all got settled into our temporary rooms in the castle. As the sky grew dark, some servants brought dinner to all of us, in our respective rooms of course. As I suspected, the food wasn't like anything from the world we came from, but none the less, I still enjoyed it. The servants returned a little after I finished eating and removed the dirty dishes from my room, then I got another visitor not long after. It was Itsuki. He invited me, Ren, and Motoyasu back to his room to discuss everything that had happened to us today, and to talk about our plans for the future in this new world. Although I wasn't too keen on making friends with the three of them, I decided to humor him and accept his offer, following him back to his room with Ren and Motoyasu in tow.

Once all four of us were gathered in the same room, I took a seat on the couch, Motoyasu made himself comfortable on the bed, Itsuki sat in one of the chairs at the table, and Ren remained standing next to said table, leaning against then mantle of the fireplace. The first one of us to break the silence was Motoyasu, letting out a content sigh. "Ahhhh...Being a legendary hero definitely has its perks. These rooms are awesome, and that girl that lead us here was really cute too."

After hearing that, I glanced at Motoyasu with a look of disgust in my eyes. _"Oh great. He's one of those people. Lovely." _I thought to myself in a sarcastic tone, but remained silent out loud for the time being.

The silence didn't persist however, as Motoyasu spoke up once again. "Ya know, this world is just like Emerald Online. Its almost unreal."

His comment made Ren and Itsuki turn to him, giving him looks of contradiction. "Huh? What are you talking about? This world isn't some online game. Its much more like the new console game I just bought. Dimension Web." Itsuki corrected Motoyasu, but then it was Ren's turn to correct him.

"Your both wrong. Everything about this world is identical to a VR MMO called Brave Star Online." Ren named off a third game title, but I didn't recognize a single one of the games the three of them had just mentioned.

Motoyasu let out a sigh before getting back on his feet, turning to face Ren and Itsuki, as the three of them began to compare notes on their three games. Since this conversation didn't have anything to do with me, I just leaned back on the couch, put my hands behind my head, and watched the show.

Once they were done with their game talk, Motoyasu got another idea, holding his spear out in front of him as he spoke. "Okay, time to compare general knowledge, just to be sure. For starters, whose face is on the 100 yen bill? One...two...three." He, Ren, and Itsuki all gave their answers, but were shocked and confused when they all gave different answers, and not a single one of them knew the people mentioned by the other two at all either.

Even I was surprised by this sudden revelation, so I decided to join in on the discussion too. I might not have come from Japan like the others did, but there was still plenty of other ways to compare general knowledge, and my love of Japanese anime and video games was a big help.

The four of us spent the next thirty minutes comparing information, using any and all topics we could think of. Names of world leaders, outcomes of wars, famous voice actors, popular landmarks and tourist destinations, and plenty more. Eventually we all came to the same conclusion. We were all from completely different versions of earth.

I went back to leaning back on the couch after that, letting out a deep sigh. "Honestly, this doesn't surprise me much. I mean, look where we are. We're in a castle, in a magical world, holding legendary weapons. If ya ask me, the concept of parallel worlds doesn't sound too outlandish anymore." All three of them turned to me after that, looking right at me in silence. "Uhhh...Is there a problem?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

The first one to answer me was Itsuki, standing up from his chair. "Sorry, but since parallel worlds exist, I think we'd all like to be sure."

"Sure of what?" I questioned them further, wondering what had their gazes locked on me.

"Damian, are you really a demon? Or are you a human, like us?" Ren asked me, his tone still the firmest one Id ever heard.

His question made me think back to my little performance during our audience with the king, as my smirk returned, and I stood up tall, striking the same pose as back then. "Ah, I see. It is a good question you pose, and the answer is quite fascinating indeed. First off, allow me to correct you Ren. I am no mere demon, but a demon lord. Tragically, in my current form, my powers are weak. The reason? I was born from two human parents, and was forced to grow up in a world surrounded by more weak humans. But now that Ive been summoned to this new world, I will fix that, and one day obtain the power that I was meant to have from the very beginning."

I finished my rather long winded answer, and all three of them looked at me with their eyes half open, like they were worried about nothing, as silence overtook the room once again for a full minute.

"So basically, your just a super hardcore role player." Motoyasu says what their all thinking, and its true, to everyone except me of course. After that, Motoyasu let out some laughter, then gave me a rather cocky grin. "Now I understand. It makes sense that your the shield hero Damian."

Ren and Itsuki agreed with him, and I lost my smirk and my pose in favor of a slightly annoyed expression. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Relax man, I didn't mean any offense by it. I just meant that it sounds like you might have one or two screws loose, and that's why you ended up with the shield. I don't know what Emerald Online is like in your world, but based on experience, I can tell you that the shielder class is for losers with no real experience, because no one ever plays it." When he got to the last part of his statement, he walked right up to me, looked me straight in the eye, and lost his grin.

"Sorry Damian. Its the same in my world too." Ren confirmed Motoyasu's words, crossing his arms, and turning away from me.

Itsuki nodded in agreement as well. "Yeah, same here. The shielder class sucks."

However, despite their harsh words, I managed to catch them all off guard by suddenly bursting into laughter. "Ahahahahahahahahah!"

All three of them looked at me once more, with high levels of confusion, as Motoyasu stepped back from me before questioning my laughter. "Uhhh...Did I miss the joke? We just told you that you got the lamest class and weapon of the four of us, so why are you laughing?"

I heard his question, then slowly calmed myself down, wiping a tear from my eye. "Sorry, but you three clearly don't get it. I've been given the greatest gift of all. An escape from the piece of trash world I came from. Do you remember my outburst back when we were first summoned to this world? Well, in case it wasn't made clear then, Ill tell you all now. I hated my world. My world was boring, and every single day just felt the same. I felt trapped, with no way out, dreaming of the day when Id finally leave that crappy world behind for a better one. And this world we've been brought to is exactly the kind of world I had always hoped for. So now that I'm here, I don't really give a damn if my weapon is the weakest. Hell, if it meant I could escape from my world, Id gladly fight with a spoon!" I raised my voice at them during my last few words, with an extremely serious look in my eyes.

Once again, they all looked at me like I was a mad man, until Itsuki finally got the nerve to speak up. "...Are you serious?"

"Im more serious then I've ever been! Besides, if no one ever plays the shielder class back in your worlds, then how do you know that its really that bad? I don't believe that for a second. You guys just probably never took the time to learn how to use it and see what it could really do. There's lots of ways to fight with a shield. Haven't any of you ever played Kingdom Hearts before?" As I asked them this, I thought back to the seemingly endless amount of hours Ive spent playing Kingdom Hearts in my life.

Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all exchanged some looks of confusion, giving me the answer I needed. Clearly, none of them had even heard of Kingdom Hearts before, so it must not have existed in any of their worlds.

I simply shrugged at this, then walked around the couch, turning to the balcony. "No matter. I think I've made my point. This shield is my salvation, and Ill unlock its true power and make it my own. No matter how long it takes. Until then, Ill just rely on my party. Easy fix."

By this time, the shock and confusion had worn off for all three of them, but they still had some serious doubts about me and my shield. "What if no one decides to team up with you tomorrow? The king said he'd gather the best adventurers in the kingdom for us, but I'm sure everyone in this world knows just how lame the shielder class is too." Motoyasu says to me, still sounding very cocky.

But just like a moment ago, I was completely unfazed by that thought. "Whatever. Doesn't bother me. If a bunch of human adventurers don't wanna team up with a demon lord like me, then that's just fine. I'm not looking for human help anyway. We're in a world of magic, aren't we? So there's gotta be a bunch of inhuman races around too."

"What? You mean like demi-humans? I don't about that Damian. In Dimension Web, all demi-human races are monsters. I've never heard of anyone using them as party members before." Itsuki offered his two cents on the subject, sounding very unsure of my thought process.

I still didn't turn back to face any of them, looking up at the night sky, but did still respond none the less. "Well then its a very good thing that I'm no mere human or adventurer. It might take some convincing, but I'm sure any demi-human would jump at the chance to fight alongside a true demon lord like Damian Abyss."

"Nothing your saying makes any sense at all. You say that you'll rely on your party members if you have to, yet you also refuse to team up with any humans, for what ever reason that may be. With an attitude like that, your gonna get yourself killed." It was Ren's turn to try and snap me out of the little world he and the others believed me to be in, but just like Motoyasu and Itsuki's comments, I dismissed Ren's thoughts right away as well.

"I wouldn't expect any of you to understand, and it would take too long to explain anyway. Just know that now that I'm here, in this new and magical world, there's nothing that it or anyone else can throw at me that'll make me give up or give in. My dream of coming here was fulfilled, but that's only the first step. Ive got loads more work ahead of me, and I say bring it on!" With a confident grin spread across my face, and my fists clenched tightly, I run out onto the balcony, face the moon and the stars above, and yells out as loud as I can. "I'm gonna build my own kingdom! Become a true demon lord! And have a harem of the most beautiful demi-human girls this world has to offer! IM THE KING OF THE WORLD!" My voice echoed out into the night after that. I knew of course that I wasn't the king of anything just yet, but that's how I was feeling at this very moment.

For another minute, all three of them continued to look at me like I was the craziest person alive, but after my words slowly sunk in, they all got some rather amused looks on their faces. "Okay. Good luck with all that man." Motoyasu said to me, not really believing for a second that Id actually accomplish any of that. Then he turned back to Ren and Itsuki, who both felt the exact same way. "Anyway, our quests begin tomorrow. Lets all head back to our rooms and get some shut eye."

We all agreed, and said our goodbyes and goodnights to each other, as me, Ren, and Motoyasu all left Itsuki's room, heading back to our own rooms for the night. The whole way back, my grin never faded even a little. _"Hell yeah! My life in this new world begins tomorrow. Not sure if Ill even be able to sleep tonight. I cant remember the last time I was this excited." _It ended up taking quite a bit of doing, but I did manage to fall asleep that night after a good workout, despite the fact that my shield was stuck to my arm.

X

When the following morning came around, the sunlight shone through the window of my temporary room, but for the first time in years, I was actually happy to see it and eager to get out of bed. I got up and got ready for the day with a pleasant attitude, then ate the breakfast that was delivered to my room, and followed one of the castle maids back to the king's throne room after, meeting up with Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki along the way. When the four of us arrived, we were greeted with a similar sight as our previous visit to the throne room, with the king on his throne, his fellow noblemen off to the right side of the room, and wall to wall guards. But this time, we noticed a group of new faces on the side of the room opposite to where we currently stood. We assumed these were the adventurers the king told us he'd summon for us, but we waited for the king to confirm it, walking further into the room.

"We have gathered the finest adventurers Melromarc has to offer. These brave souls will fight against the waves alongside you." The king told us, as all four of us came to a stop, and began to look over the group of potential party members we'll be working with.

However, I didn't look interested in any of them at all. Once it was clear that they were all humans, I quickly made the decision to turn down those who decided to team up with me, if any.

"Future champions, it is time to begin your journey." At the king's words, all the adventurers stepped forward, moving to stand behind their hero of choice.

There were twelve adventurers in all, and among them, five stood behind Ren, four went over to Motoyasu, and Itsuki attracted three. But I ended up with zero, not that I minded of course. I simply glanced at everyone else's parties, then shrugged. _"Oh well. This actually makes things easier for me. Now I don't have to tell anyone to get lost. Still..." _I noticed that all four of Motoyasu's party members were female, and admittedly, it made me curse his name under my breath. _"Good looking pretty boys can all go to hell." _

My thoughts of anger and envy were cut short, as the king spoke out loud once again. "I must admit, even I didn't expect an outcome like this."

"His charisma must be very low to have not attracted the attention of even a single adventurer." The prime minister added, then another man leaned over, whispering something to the king.

"I see. It is as I feared then. It would seem this is due to yesterday, when the shield hero referred to himself as a devil." The king enlightened everyone, as I just grumbled to myself a bit.

_"Demon lord. Not devil. Come on people. Get it right." _I thought to myself with an annoyed expression on my face, listening to hear what the king would say next.

"It would seem that while the shield hero does appear to be human, all of the adventurers of Melromarc are still very wary of him. This information has even struck fear into the hearts of several citizens." The king continued to explain the situation, and some whispers could be heard from the other noblemen in the room.

All of this made me sigh, and glance over at the peanut gallery. _"Yeah, yeah. Mummer it up sheep. Its just human nature to fear the unknown. Humans are always scared of the stuff they cant explain. If I really did scare some people, that's just another perfect example of how stupid humans are. But whatever. Its no skin off my nose. This actually works in my favor."_

Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all looked at me with some concern, but none of them were surprised by this. Given our discussion last night, they all knew that the whole demon lord thing was just a role I'm always playing, but they also knew that none of this was bothering me, since they also knew about my dislike for humans. As a result, none of them made any sort of effort to help me out of this, not that I wanted them to.

But then, something happened that surprised every single person in the room. From the back of Motoyasu's party, a lone hand was raised, followed by the sound of a voice. "Sir spear hero." Everyone turned to look at the young woman who spoke up, as she made her way to the front of the party, smiling at Motoyasu. "Would you mind if I switched parties and joined the shield hero?"

Everyone was confused by this, but none more so then Motoyasu. "Uhhh...Are you sure?"

The young woman's smile remained, as she confirmed her feelings for him. "I am."

I turned to face this girl, feeling rather surprised myself. _"Okay, so maybe not everyone in this room is completely idiotic. Crap. Now I gotta come up with an excuse."_

As I began thinking of a way to turn her down, the king let out a sigh of his own before speaking up once more. "Is there anyone else that would like to join the shield hero on his quest?" He asked, but no one spoke up. "Oh well. So be it then. In that case, we shall have to take other measures. Master Damian, you shall have to recruit for your party yourself."

After quickly mulling it over, I turned to face the king, giving him my response. "Honestly, that suits me just fine your majesty. In fact, there's something I need to say right now." I then turned back to the girl who'd volunteered to change parties, and took a deep breath before speaking to her. "Listen miss..." I didn't know her name, so I found myself at a loss for a moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Myne Sophia. Its a pleasure to meet you sir shield hero." She told me her name in a kind and friendly tone, never once losing her matching smile.

"Myne. Got it. So listen Myne, you seem like a very nice girl with a lot of talent, but your first choice was Motoyasu, the spear hero. Id hate to pull you from his party because you feel pity for me. So while I appreciate the offer, if you'd rather stay in Motoyasu's party, then I understand. Please don't worry about me. I know it might not seem like it, but I already have an idea for my party, and Ill be fine on my own until I can pull it off." I did my best to explain all of this to her, and I hoped it would work. It was the only excuse I could come up with on the fly.

Everyone is once again surprised to hear this from me, not expecting me to turn down the one and only adventurer I've managed to recruit, but Myne maintained her smiling face, and continued to insist on joining my party. "Yes, that is true sir shield hero, but I just wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that one of the four cardinal heroes of legend is out fighting dangerous monsters on his own. Besides, you wont find a mage more skilled then me."

I sighed at this, finding her persistence to be quite annoying, but I kept my cool and tried again to get her to leave. "Your concern for my well being is dually noted Myne, but I insist. Go with Motoyasu. Id really much rather be on my own for now."

At this point, Myne finally lost her smile, in favor of a more confused facial expression. "Huh? Now why would you feel that way sir shield hero? Have I done something to offend you?"

I shake my head at her before answering her, mentally asking myself what is up with this girl. "No, your fine. Like I told my fellow heroes last night, its a long story, and Id rather not bore everyone here with the details when we're all eager to get started on our adventures. So can you please just trust me and move along?"

"Oh, so something is bothering you. If that's the case, then Id be more then happy to listen to your story and try to help you how ever I can. We can talk about it over dinner after we-" She got her smile back, and continued to persist on me.

However, that's when I lost my patients and cut her off in the middle of her sentence, shooting a glare right into her eyes. "Back off!" My sudden outburst shocked everyone yet again, and even made a few people flinch.

Myne didn't take it so well, as she lost her smile, and started to look hurt, a few tears forming in her eyes. Then, without a word, she covered her face with her hands, and ran to the back of Motoyasu's party.

Naturally, this earned me a few angry glares from some people in the room, especially Motoyasu. "Dude, what the hell? That wasn't cool. She was just trying to help you."

I turned to face him, not looking very bothered by his glare, as I spoke to him in a rather cold tone. "And I appreciate it. Its not like I enjoyed doing that, but you wouldn't understand."

Motoyasu backed off from me, but still didn't look or sound very pleased. "Tch. Yeah, I guess I wouldn't understand. But if you really don't want her, then fine. Ill take her. After all, a girl like her deserves a gentleman who wont make her cry." He smirked at his party, trying to sound cool, and it seemed to work for them.

I just rolled my eyes and groaned at this shameless display. _"Human girls fall for it every time. For their sakes, I hope his spear can measure up to his legendary weapon." _I let out some light chuckles at my own joke, and Ren and Itsuki gave me some very disapproving stares, which I didn't bother to notice.

With that little mess taken care of, the king cleared his throat, regaining everyone's attention. "Now that that is settled, let us move on. Every month, we shall provide each hero with the funds they require. However, this one time, since he doesn't have a party of his own, master Damian's payment will be higher then the others."

Hearing this made me grin, as I liked the sound of that, already making plans to buy certain items after leaving the castle.

Four servants then walked over to each of us heroes, carrying bags of coins to give us. I received 800 silver coins, while everyone else received 600 silver coins each.

"You are free to leave on your adventures now brave heroes. Procure the supplies and equipment you shall need and set forth!" The king told us, and we all responded with a strong "Sir!"

All parties then turned to leave the room, and the castle itself after that, as the guards opened the front gate for us to head out into the town to begin our respective quests.

X

Once we all got outside, I used my shield to keep the sunlight out of my eyes until I adjust to it. Motoyasu and his party leave first, never saying a word to me, but Ren and Itsuki are nice enough to wish me good luck before they leave with their parties.

I chose to stay behind for a few minutes, waiting for everyone else to leave before I do. Once I was sure they were all gone, I left the castle grounds too, getting a closer look at the village around it when I stepped outside its walls. The first things I noticed were some people with animal ears walking around, and carts being pulled by dragons and some kind of large chicken-looking creatures. Both of these things made me grin, as my excitement started to build back up again. "Demi-humans. I knew it. Those dragons looking pretty cool too. This place is gonna be a blast." I declared to myself, then set out to gather some supplies, knowing Id need them for my adventure. All the while, I took in the new sights and sounds from the world around me, and my excitement rose with every step I took.

**Well, looks like Damian is on his way, but this is just the beginning. He'll soon learn that even a fantasy world like this one has its dark sides. How will he react to them? How much can he actually accomplish on his own? What other surprises await him in this new and unknown world? The answers to all of these questions and more will come in the next several chapters, but until then, here's the answer to a question some of you might have already.**

**In case any of you were wondering, no. Damian most certainly did not see through Myne's deception. That's not why he turned her down at all. Given his history, which will be brought to light later on, he doesn't like or trust humans very much, and doesn't enjoy being around them for extended periods of time. Truth be told, he would've reacted the exact same way to any human adventurers who asked to join his party, not just Myne. In other words, its not her. Its him, but he has his reasons. Still, this will not change the overall story much.**

**Next order of business. Some of you might be wondering why Damian didn't get executed, imprisoned, or harmed in any way, despite claiming to be a demon lord in front of the king and so many other royals and nobles. Well, the answer to that is simple. As many of you may or may not recall from the first episode of the anime, the king admitted that since Naofumi was the shield hero, he was unable to execute or imprison him, despite the charges against him. Well, since Damian is this story's shield hero, its basically the same thing. Demon lord, childish attitude, or otherwise, that shield prevents the king or anyone else from bringing any harm to Damian. At least for now.**

**Anyway, hope this chapter was worth the wait, and again, I know my grammar is not the best, but hopefully you could all understand everything well enough. And if you have any notes, tips, or suggestions for me, please leave a review, which I will read and consider.**

**You may have also noticed that this chapter didn't cover all of episode one of the anime. Since the first episode was double the length of the others, I decided to split it up into two parts. I'm hoping to have each chapter cover a whole anime episode, but that may change further down the line, especially with the non-canon scenes and events I'm planning on adding into the story. Since I'm just getting started, I don't really have a solid plan yet, but I'm sure Ill figure it out as I go.**

**Sorry for being kinda long winded here. Ill wrap things up here. See you all next time! Hope your looking forward to it!**

**Also, quick side note, I also don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything to do with it either.**


	3. Ch 2 - Breaking Point

**Hey there readers! So glad I finally got this chapter done, and I'm so sorry it took so long. It ended up being longer then I originally expected it to be, but better late then never. Am I right?**

**Anyway, I've gained so many favs and follows since posting the first chapter, and I just wanna say that I'm very grateful to all of you. Thank you all so much for your support, as well as those who've been nice enough to post a review of my story too!**

**Well, I cant really think of anything else to say right now, so lets get on with the chapter! And like always, I don't own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or anything to do with it. I own my OC, and nothing more.**

Chapter 2 - Breaking Point

For the first thirty minutes of my adventure, I mostly just walked around the streets of the town, taking in the sights and sounds of this new world. It was all so amazing to me. Everywhere I looked, I saw things no one would ever see back in my old world. Eventually, I managed to refocus myself on the task at hand, which was to gather the supplies necessary for my adventure. Since I didn't have a party to show me where the shops were, I decided that the first thing I should buy is a map, but that again left me with the same dilemma. Fortunately, I wasn't without options.

There were plenty of people walking around that I could ask for directions, but rather then talk to any humans, I decided instead to ask the first demi-human I saw. The demi-human in question was a young man with wolf ears and a tail, but compared to all the humans walking around, he seemed rather poorly dressed. His clothes were all tattered and dirty, and he seemed surprised that I had chosen to talk to him instead of a human, which lead me to believe that demi-humans were treated as low class citizens in this kingdom. But Id address that later. The wolf demi-human was kind enough to give me directions to a shop that sold maps, so I thanked him with a silver coin, feeling kind of bad for him, then headed off to the shop he'd mentioned.

Finding the shop wasn't too hard, and once I arrived, I made the decision to buy three maps. The first map was of the kingdom of Melromarc and all the land around it. The second map was of the entire continent that Melromarc was built upon. And the final map was simply a map of the town I was in, showing all the different shops, inns, and other places to visit. The map of the continent showed me the locations of all the other kingdoms of this land, as well as several smaller islands around the continent.

I put the maps of the kingdom and the continent away for now, and took several minutes to study the map of the town, which gave me the locations of several shops I knew Id have to visit. I couldn't read this new world's language at first, but after a few seconds, it suddenly became clear to me. I was so focused on the map that I didn't notice the green gemstone in my shield glowing a little for a moment, helping translate this world's language into English for me. With that, I put that map away as well, and paid a visit to a shop that sold potions and medicines after that, buying a few potions for myself. I also made the decision to buy a few other necessities for myself. A toothbrush, some soap, a washcloth, and a few other things I knew Id need. Once that was done, it was time for the moment Id been waiting for. Time to buy some armor.

There were several shops that specialized in weapons and armor on the map, and I chose to visit the one closest to my current location. I opened the door and walked inside as soon as I arrived, having myself a look around, very impressed by everything I saw.

"Welcome adventurer." The shop owner spoke to me from behind his counter, making me turn to him. "I've never seen you in town before. Is this your first time in a weapons shop?" He asked me, a friendly smile present on his face.

I walked up to the counter, and returned his smile as I answered him. "In this world, yes. And I have to say, I think I made the right choice coming to your shop. Its a rather impressive selection you've got here."

"Well thanks for saying so, but what did you mean by "this world?" Are you one of those heroes of legend?" The shop owner asks me, losing his smile for a moment in favor of a more questioning facial expression.

I smirked before answering him, holding my shield up for him to see. "You tell me."

Upon seeing my shield, he understood who I was, having heard the rumors spreading through the kingdom. "A shield, huh? So your the supposed demon lord I've heard about."

"There's nothing to suppose at all good sir. My name is Damian Abyss, and I am a real demon lord. But please fear not. I have not come here to harm you or anyone else. I merely wish to purchase some armor from you to aid in my quest." I did my whole pose and routine for him, doing my best to look and sound cool.

However, the shop owner didn't show much reaction to my one man performance. "No offense kid, but to me, you just look like a guy with a shield on his arm, dressed in strange clothing."

I got a bruise on my pride after that comment, but I didn't let it dampen my spirits too much. I ended my pose after that, and cleared my throat. "Anyway, yes. I am the shield hero as well. In case that much wasn't clear."

The shop owner laughed a bit, getting his smile back. "Yeah, I got that already. Don't worry about it. As long as you become a regular at my shop, it doesn't matter to me what you are or where you came from. Good to meet you. The name's Erhard."

I have to admit, I was surprised to hear that response from the man in front of me. _"Well, that's refreshing. Glad not every human in this kingdom is totally close minded." _I thought to myself, then spoke out loud again. "Thanks, and likewise. Anyway, I'm just hear to buy some armor. I've got over 700 silver coins on me right now."

Erhard looked a little surprised when all I asked for was armor, looking at me with some confusion again. "Are you sure that's all you want? From what I can see, the only weapon you've got is that shield, and it doesn't look like you've got a party to back you up. I can hook you up with a fine sword if you want."

"That is all true, and I appreciate the offer, but I'm the shield hero. I cant use any weapons besides shields. Look." I turned towards some swords he had on display in this shop, and tried to pick one up. The second I touched it, it shocked me, and I flinched, stumbling backwards about two steps, though it didn't really hurt me at all. "See?"

"Well Ill be damned. That's a bummer. Sorry Damian." He was nice enough to say to me, but I just waved my hand in front of me, showing that I didn't mind.

"Its fine. Thanks. To be honest, that was the first time I tried picking up a weapon other then a shield in this world, so I wasn't really sure what would happen. Still, I assumed that as the shield hero, the shielder class, I figured that shields were the only type of weapon I was able to use in battle. It is a little surprising that I cant even touch other types of weapons though." The only reason I knew that was thanks to the discussion I had with my fellow heroes last night. Given the way they talked about the shielder class, they made it sound pretty obvious that it was shields only.

"Must be a cardinal hero thing. You should really find yourself a party, and soon. In the meantime, I can at least give you some armor. Let me show you what I've got." Erhard showed me his current supply of armor, and while most of it was impressive, I wasn't looking for anything too heavy, knowing that there was no way Id be able to stay standing with it on for too long.

In the end, I settled on a set of leather armor. Not too fancy looking, but not to heavy either. Erhard assured me that it would hold up well against the monsters in the fields and forests around the kingdom, and that was good enough for me. At least for now. I also noticed that the armor boosted a few of my stats a bit, which I knew would come in handy. "Hmmm...I've seen better, but I guess it'll do for now. What do I owe ya for it?"

"Heroes discount. Ill sell you the whole set for 120 silvers, and when you come back for an upgrade, Ill buy it back from you for 100 silvers. Provided you can keep it in good condition of course." Erhard informed me, as I exited his shop's changing room.

Since I didn't wish to part with my anime hoodie, and I didn't really have anywhere else to leave it, I folded it up and put it into the bag I was carrying with me, which also held my maps, potions, and my coins. I took my bag of coins out, and paid Erhard the amount he'd asked for. "Thanks. You'll definitely be seeing me again."

Erhard smiled at me once me, accepting my silver coins, then watched as I headed for the door. "Glad to hear it. My door is always open. Be careful out there, and try not to get yourself killed Damian."

I opened the door and waved goodbye to him, deciding to make his shop my go-to location for armor and weapons from now on. As I walked out of his shop, the last words he spoke made me remember my father for a moment, as those were the very same words he said to me the last time I saw him. However, I quickly shook my head and cleared those thoughts out of my head. _"As far as humans go, Erhard was okay I guess. More importantly, I've got everything I need now. Time to level up and have some real fun." _I grinned to myself, making my way out of the town, and into the fields just outside of it, feeling very excited to get started, even if I was on my own.

X

After exiting the town, I walked for a good twenty minutes or so, then stopped once I felt like I was far enough away. From on top of a hill, I was able to see for miles in every direction, easily able to see the town from where I stood. Then, as soon as I turned around to check out the view on the other side of the field, I noticed several red markers moving through the tall grass, all heading right for me. I quickly deduced that these were likely monsters. So I took a battle ready stance, and narrowed my gaze, preparing myself for what ever was about to appear before me.

I didn't have to wait long, as a group of orange balloon monsters jumped out of the tall grass, growling at me as they bared their fangs and glared at me with their glowing red eyes.

"Balloons? That's what ya get for level one I guess. Bring it on!" I charged right back at the balloons, throwing a punch at one of them, hitting it right in the face, while the others all grab onto my arms, legs, and torso with their mouths, and started to bite me repeatedly. At first, I expected to feel some pain, but I quickly realized that their attacks weren't hurting me at all. "Wait...How come this doesn't hurt?"

The answer came from my shield, as the green gemstone in the middle of it began to glow, and the glow travelled to the rest of my body. Taking another look at my stats, I realized that my defense was too high for monsters like these to cause me any real damage, and that realization made me grin once more. "Hell yeah! Its on!" After pulling the balloon monsters off of my body, I used all my strength to fight back against them. Punches, kicks, even bashing them with my shield. I even tried a few body slams, jumping on top of the balloons, making sure to put all my weight behind my shield as it smashed down on top of them.

As I fought, I noticed Ren and his party, fighting against more balloons in another part of the field. It looked like Ren was having a much easier time then me, popping multiple balloons with a single strike from his sword, while my attacks only managed to pop them after several consecutive strikes. I took a moment to catch my breath as I watched him fight, then glared at him slightly. "Show off."

The last thing I wanted was to be outdone by the other heroes, so I kept fighting every balloon that appeared, then went to go find more when I ran out. Since their attacks couldn't hurt me, I knew that I could afford to be a little reckless. Still, the same couldn't be said for my stamina, as I found myself taking several breaks in between battles, sitting under a shady tree to catch my breath.

Fortunately, all my efforts are not in vain, as I gain experience points with every balloon I pop. Be that as it may, the sun begins to set over the horizon before I know it, and after all my hard work, I only managed to make it up to level two. I did manage to score a good number of orange balloon pieces though. With the daylight nearly gone, I decide to stop fighting for the day, so I sit under another tree and count up my balloon fragments.

As I count them, I get the idea to try feeding one to my shield, so I give it a try. I then watch in awe as the balloon fragment is absorbed into the green gemstone on the front of my shield. "So it works." I smile, watching a kind of upgrade tree appear on my status screen, with several branches attached to the icon for my original shield. "Looks like I can use different items to upgrade my shield. I wonder how many upgrades there are." I feed my shield several more balloon pieces, and decide to save the rest for later, either as more fodder or to sell for coins.

Once that's done, I get back on my feet, continuing to talk to myself. "All that work, and I only gained one level. What is the level cap in this world anyway?" I pondered that for a moment, thinking back to several popular video games I played back home. In most of them, the level cap was 90 or 99, but it was 100 in several others. And there were even a few games that went even higher then that. It was rare, but not unheard of.

"Ill just have to figure it out when I get that far. No use in worrying about it right now. On another note, I cant believe how high my defense is. I mean, I knew it would be high, but not high enough to block out pain from attacks from weaker monsters. That would explain why it didn't hurt that much when I hit my head on the floor when I arrived in this world. I wonder..." I thought out loud, turning to face the tree I was standing next to, getting a very strange idea in my head. That didn't stop me from trying it though, as I walked right up to the tree, then slammed my head against it as hard as I could.

I winced very hard after the impact, stumbling backwards a few feet, barely able to stay standing. A big red mark was more visible on my forehead, and I grit my teeth as I fought through the pain. "Ouch...Okay, even I admit that was dumb. I guess self inflected damage is only weakened by a little." I gave my forehead a few gentle rubs, then packed up all the balloon fragments Id managed to obtain, and picked up my bag afterward.

"I'm starved. Time to head back and get somethin to eat." I said to myself again, then looked around, finally realizing what I was doing. "I've really got to learn to stop talking to myself." I really needed a party, if for no other reason then to give me someone to talk to. Still, the loneliness didn't bother me too much, being that I was already very used to it. I began thinking of possible ways to get some party members for myself, preferably demi-humans, as I started my walk back to Melromarc.

X

After making it back to Melromarc, I followed the map to a local inn, figuring that it would do for some dinner, as well as a place to spend the night. The inn had a sign out in front that said they didn't serve demi-humans, and while that made me sick to my stomach, I was still starving, having not eaten a thing since breakfast. However, much to my continued displeasure, once I stepped inside, I found that my three fellow heroes all had the same idea. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were all seated at different tables in what appeared to be a tavern or a pub sort of setting inside the inn, sharing their respective tables with their parties, all of them enjoying some very nice looking meals. It made me sigh in annoyance to have to have to be this close to them, but the sight and smell of their food was just too tempting. So I decided to stay, and was lucky enough to find an empty table, seating myself at it.

As I waited for someone to come and take my order, I read over the menu, but still didn't really understand this world's cuisine. Once a member of the inn's staff came to my table to take my order, I just ended up ordering what I saw over at Ren's table, thinking that it looked pretty good. The inn's staff member left me, and I found myself glancing over at my fellow heroes and their parties again, noticing that they all seemed to be enjoying themselves so far. Admittedly, it made me feel a little envious, as I found myself wishing for a party of my own. This was an odd feeling for me, and was the first time in years that Id wished for something humans had.

I did my best to ignore this feeling, and wait for my food to arrive, which it did soon after that. After all the effort I put forth today, I was very hungry, and the smell of all that freshly cooked food only made it worse. So I dug right in, enjoying every single bite to the fullest, smiling contently as I ate my dinner. "Mmmmm...I'm not really sure what this is, but its delicious. This world just gets better and better." I said to myself, after swallowing a mouthful of some kind of meat.

Once Id eaten about half of my meal, I pulled out my map of Melromarc, and started looking it over, trying to decide what my next move should be. Unfortunately, without a party, I quickly found that my options were very limited. As such, my next move was clear. "Okay, tomorrow I really need to find some teammates. I don't know how, but even just one would do for now. Maybe I could ask around? Some of the demi-humans in this town looked pretty capable." I was so used to being alone, and so lost in thought, that I didn't notice that someone had taken the time to approach me.

"Well, fancy meeting you here. Hello sir shield hero." For some reason, Myne had taken the time to come over and greet me, catching me completely by surprise. Despite our previous, and only interaction, she had a bright, friendly smile spread across her face as she spoke to me.

She was acting like our previous interaction never happened, and it made me a bit skeptical, as I began to wonder if maybe Motoyasu sent her over to me for some reason. However, not wanting to cause a scene in a public setting, I decided to play along for now, turning to her slowly. "Hello Myne. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Actually there is." Before giving me her explanation, she gave me an apologetic bow. "I'm not sure if I did something to upset you this morning at the castle, but if you'll allow it, Id like to try making it up to you sir shield hero."

This actually surprised me a bit more, as I wasn't expecting this at all. Still, like with all humans, I didn't lower my guard for a second. "Oh. I see. Forget about it. Its fine. You didn't do anything wrong. Id rather not get into it, so Ill just tell you what I told the other heroes. Its a long story."

Myne ended her bow, stood up straight, and smiled at me once more. "That's alright. As long as it wasn't anything I did. So, how was your first day as the shield hero? Are you doing okay without a party?"

"Ill admit, its not easy. I worked hard all day battling monsters and only managed to get up to level two. Ill be fine though. Ill have a party of my own soon enough." I answered her, trying not to sound desperate, even though I didn't actually have a real plan yet.

"Well that's wonderful to hear. I wish you the best of luck on your exploits, sir shield hero." Myne told me, clapping her hands together, her smile and tone still very bright and cheery. "Anyway, Id still like to do something nice for you, so why don't you come over and sit with sir Motoyasu and the rest of us? The four cardinal heroes might not be able to adventure together, but they can still spend time together off the battlefield. You look so lonely over here by yourself, it makes me feel bad. We have lots of delicious wine and Id love for you to try some sir shield hero."

I turned away from her after that, taking another bite of my food before responding. "I appreciate your offer, but I'm fine on my own for now. I'm used to being alone. Besides, I don't drink."

I turned her down, and she lost her smile for a moment, but she quickly got it back. "That's too bad. Its really good, premium vintage wine. Since I'm unable to help you on your adventure, Id at least like to help you unwind, and nothing is better for unwinding after a hard day then a nice glass of wine."

I continued to eat my dinner as she spoke to me, waiting for her to finish. "I'm sure its very nice for those who enjoy their wine, but as far as I'm concerned, the only thing wine is good for is killing fruit flies. Anyway, I'm sure Motoyasu doesn't like you talking to me. He strikes me as the kind of guy who'd be insecure. So why don't you go back over to your table before he decides to ruin everyone's good time."

"I see. That really is a shame, but I suppose at the end of the day, you are a hero after all. You see, this country is a matriarch. No man would ever turn down a drink offered by a woman here. In fact, its sometimes viewed as rude." Myne continued to try and convince me to share a drink with her, Motoyasu, and the rest of their party, getting a bit more forceful by this point.

As she spoke, I finally finished my meal, and put down my fork. I didn't turn back to her yet, but I did give her my next response. "Oh really? Well I'm not from around here, and things are very different back in my world. I'm sorry to have to turn you down a second time Myne, but my answer is no. Thank you." I turned to her again after that, looking her straight in the eye. "And by the way, I'm a demon lord first, and a hero second. You'd be wise to remember that." After getting those words out, I turned away from her again, grabbing my glass of water, and taking a drink from it.

Myne maintains her composure, and gives me one more smile. "Yes, I suppose you do make a good point. And please don't worry sir shield hero, its perfectly fine, really. I suppose Ill take my leave now. Thank you for taking the time to at least hear me out. Pleasant dreams sir shield hero." She waves to me, then turns, and heads back over to her table to rejoin her party.

I sighed once more after she finally left, doing some thinking. _"So annoyingly persistent. Who the hell does she even think she is? I almost feel bad for Motoyasu. Almost." _From there, I got back on my feet, paid for my meal and my room for the night, then headed up to my room after getting the key from the inn keeper.

After making it up to my room, I noticed a lit candle in the room, probably left by the inn's staff to give the room some light, since it was dark outside by this time, as night had fallen over the kingdom of Melromarc once more. I then locked the door, and used one of the chairs in the room to block it, sticking the chair under the doorknob. "Not that I don't trust the humans in this world, but I don't. Earth or this world, humans are all still the same to me." Once that was taken care of, I sat down at the table in the room, took out my coins, and started to count them up. "I've still got over 600 silvers left. Plus I've got a bag full of balloon fragments that I can sell, so I'm in a pretty good place right now, financially."

I made sure to put all my coins back in my coin pouch, then put my coin pouch back into my bag. I then put my bag down next to the bed, and removed my armor, setting it down next to the bed too. Then I laid back on the bed, and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about my first day in this new world. "My first day here might not have been the most exciting day of my life, but Id still take this world over Earth any day of the week. All I need is some party members to help me out, then I'm sure things will start pickin up. Yeah!" I said confidently, a smile appearing on my face.

"I wonder what kinds of demi-human girls Ill end up with in my party. Maybe a cat girl, or a bunny girl. A lizard girl would definitely be interesting. So many possibilities." My smile turned into a mildly perverted smirk, as my mind wandered, imagining all the different types of demi-human girls this world could have to offer me. In the end, I wasn't all that picky when it came to species. Just as long as they were beautiful and willing to work with me.

As soon as I was finally able to snap myself out of my little fantasy world in my head, I got back up, and did my usual work out routine before bed. It was usually just push ups, sit ups, and lunges, but Id occasionally throw in some other types of exercises if I felt like it. I also enjoyed a nice jog from time to time. Outdoors of course. Once my work out was complete, I blew out the candle, laid down in bed, and got to sleep after about fifteen minutes. After the day Id had, I was definitely beat.

X

I wasn't sure what time it was, but at some point during the night, I was awoken from my slumber by some rather sudden noises. They weren't very loud, but Id always been a pretty light sleeper. I was careful not to make any sounds myself, making it seem like I was still asleep, listening for the source of the sounds that woke me up. I couldn't see much through the darkness of the night, but then Id heard the sound again, and it was unmistakable. It was the sound of someone turning the doorknob to my room, and attempting to open the door, only to be stopped cold by the chair Id used to block said door. From the sound of it, whoever it was tried several times to open the door, doing their best to stay quiet and sneaky.

After several failed attempts, they stopped, and I heard the sound of footsteps walking down the hallway, leaving the outside of my door. I wasn't sure who it was, but since my chair had stopped them, I decided against getting up to see who it was. Being that I already didn't trust humans, and the inn had a sign out in front that said they didn't serve demi-humans, it seemed pointless. I already knew that this was definitely the work of a human, and thieves were always pretty common in fantasy animes that were similar to this world. Besides, I was far too exhausted to even think about getting into any fights this late at night, but I did stay awake for another 30 minutes, just to make sure the person was gone for good. All of this also made me wonder if the same thing was happening to Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki too.

Maybe some thieves had heard that the four cardinal heroes were here or something. I couldn't think of anyone else who'd wanna rob the four cardinal heroes of legend. I mean, we were summoned to protect this kingdom, so I found it very unlikely that just any random citizen would try something like this. Of course, if the thief did somehow manage to break into my room, Id definitely get up and defend myself. That was a no brainer. But since my blockade did its job, I didn't really see a need to do so. Its not like I was in any immediate danger or anything, and when the thief didn't end up returning at all, I was able to get back to sleep fairly quickly.

X

I woke up again several hours later, but this time was normal. It was morning, and the light of the sun had returned to the kingdom of Melromarc once again. I still wasn't all that used to waking up so early, but not having any anime to watch or video games to play was good motivation for going to bed early. Admittedly, that was one downside to this new world, as I knew Id likely never see either of those things ever again, but given that this was my greatest dream made real, it was worth it. At least to me it was.

I got myself out of bed, did some stretches, then put my armor back on, and grabbed my bag. "Alright. Gonna go grab some breakfast, then its time to find some demi-human girls willing to join my party." I had very little experience talking to people, especially girls. Ive never even had a girlfriend before, but being in this new world gave me more confidence then Id ever had back on Earth, and I felt ready to put this newly found confidence to the test. With a smile on my face, I walked over to the window to get a look outside before heading downstairs to the tavern for breakfast, but that smile was replaced with a look of confusion when I noticed a rather large number of knights from the castle gathered outside the inn.

"That's odd. Did someone catch the thief from last night or somethin?" I asked myself, then shrugged, not thinking much of it beyond that. I walked over to the door, removed the chair that was blocking it, unlocked it, then opened the door and walked out into the hallway. I started making my way towards the stairs, but was quickly stopped by the same knights I saw. They surrounded me, gripping their weapons, all of them glaring at me like I was a mass murderer or something. "Uhhh...Can I help you?" Was all I could think to say, totally lost and confused at this moment in time.

One of the knights stepped forward, and spoke to me in a very firm, and somewhat angry tone. "You're the shield hero, correct?"

I faced the knight, my tone turning into one of sarcasm, as I scratched my head with my right hand, which was also the arm that my shield was currently attached to. "Hmmm...Me? The shield hero? Gee, I don't know."

My sarcastic attitude only made the knight grit his teeth, as his glare intensified. "You think this is a joke?!"

I sighed in annoyance when he raised his voice at me, getting serious now myself. "Alright! Fine! Yes, I'm the shield hero, but you know that. Now can somebody tell me what's going on?"

"The king has summoned you to the castle. You are to go there with us at once. You are not allowed to refuse." The knight finally gave me some kind of explanation, but this left me with even more questions.

Why would the king wanna see me out of the blue like this? I've only been on my adventure for one day. Still, as much as I wanted to refuse, I also wanted to know what exactly was going on. Also, since I just woke up and haven't had anything to eat yet, I really wasn't in the mood to try fighting off this many knights. So I let out another sigh, and agreed to go to the castle with them. The knights were at least nice enough to give me a ride back to the castle, but the silence of the entire ride gave me a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't sure what was about to happen, but I was willing to bet my very soul that it wasn't anything good.

As soon as we arrived at the castle, the knights escorted me inside, and all the way up to the throne room. They opened the door, then pushed me inside, making me glare at them. "Hey! Watch it! Not cool!" I was able to keep my balance and remain on my feet, but then four knights surrounded me, pointing their spears at me, which only served to make me even more annoyed and confused. "Woah! Easy there. What up with the rough treatment?" I then turned to face the thrones, noticing that Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were all present as well. "Okay, I am so lost. Can somebody tell me what I did wrong? What did I do?!"

When I raised my voice, Myne, as well as the other girls in Motoyasu's party, all hide behind him, looking very afraid of me for some reason.

This only served to strengthen my confusion, and everyone's silence wasn't helping. However, I could tell from the looks in their eyes that they were all not pleased with me one bit. So, since no one was talking, I decided to speak up once more, turning to face the king. "Maybe you could shed some light on this your majesty? You called me to the castle, right? Why is that?"

Much to my continued surprise and confusion, the king raised his voice at me, looking and sounding very upset. "Silence you evil spawn of the underworld!"

His words made me fall silent, but from them, I was given a clue, starting to get an idea of what's going on here. I definitely need more though.

Fortunately, or I guess unfortunately for me, the king wasn't done talking. He calmed down, and turned to Myne, his tone softening. "Myne, my dear, I feel bad for asking this, but would you mind repeating what happened for everyone please?"

Myne spoke with tears in her eyes, her voice trembling as she spoke. "It happened late last night. The shield hero, that demon, grabbed me and pulled me into his room, pinning me down."

Her words made my eyes widen with shock. I knew she was lying, but I had no idea why she would.

"He said that because he was a demon lord, he could have anything he wanted, and what he wanted most was a harem, starting with me. He also told me that the reason he didn't let me into his party was because he wanted me to let my guard down. The next thing I knew, he was tearing all my clothes off. Somehow, against all odds, I managed to get away, and ran down the hall for help. I found sir Motoyasu, who happened to be staying at the same inn." Myne finished her testimony, clinging to Motoyasu like a security blanket the whole time.

I couldn't believe any of this. I felt a rapid mixture of emotions. Shock, confusion, anger, and disgust, but my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Motoyasu's voice.

"If she hadn't asked me to wait for dawn to call the castle knights, I would've cut you down myself Damian." Motoyasu's tone was full of rage, sounding like he was just barely managing to hold himself back.

That's when I finally spoke up, offering up my side of the story. "What the hell kind of crappy story is that?! Nothing like that happened at all! I locked my door, blocked it with a chair, then went straight to bed! I never touched Myne! Also, that's not why I didn't let her into my party at all! Besides, she's not my type anyway! Not even close! So why would I waste my time chasing after a girl like her?!"

That last thing I said made Motoyasu's glare grow stronger, as he looked about ready to kill me, or at least try to.

However, the sound of the king's voice calmed him down, as we all stayed silent and listened to what he had to say next. "I feared this may happen when I realized that we summoned a demon lord to this country, but to think that same demon lord would also end up being one of our cardinal heroes. It truly is a dreadful thing."

"In Melromarc, even attempted sexual assault on a woman is punishable by death. Especially if the one responsible is a literal embodiment of evil." The king's minister chimed in, sharing in everyone displeasure towards me.

The king then stood up, pointing down at me from where he stood. "If you weren't a hero, Id have you executed on the spot, you damned devil!"

I started glaring back at him after that, raising my voice in return. "Did you hear what I just said?! I'm the victim here! What proof do you have that I'm guilty anyway?!"

One of the knights stepped forward after that, kneeling before his king. "When we conducted a search of the shield hero's room your highness, we found this on the bed." He holds up a piece of woman's lingerie, as the sounds of gasps filled the room.

Myne shrieks in embarrassment and fear, burying her face in her hands, as Motoyasu glares at me once more, finally raising his own voice at me. "You monster! You really are a demon after all!"

"I have to agree with the spear hero. The evidence against you is undeniable, shield hero." The king adds, as all of the nobles gathered in the room look at me with shock, unable to believe that one of their cardinal heroes of legend would turn out this way.

Of course, I knew it was all lies, as I continued to argue with all of it. "What's undeniable is how ridiculous this is! That wasn't there when I woke up! I'm obviously being set up by someone!"

That's when Itsuki stepped in, but he wasn't on my side either. "What a terrible shame. I know you want a harem, but I thought you knew better then that Damian."

Neither was Ren, as he spoke up after Itsuki. "You seem to think that just because your a hero and a self proclaimed demon lord that you can do what ever the hell you want and get away with it."

Motoyasu then stepped forward, his spear in hand, pointing it directly at me. "We all know how you feel about the world we came from, but this world isn't some consequence free playground for you! You need to learn your place demon!"

After listening to all of this, I just stood there, falling silent, starting to do some very heavy thinking. _"Unbelievable. I'm here one day, and I'm already branded a criminal. I know there was some negative talk about me being a demon lord, but there has to be more to it then that. Right?"_

As I thought to myself, I stared into the crowd, and my eyes stopped on Myne, as she uncovered her face and looked into my eyes. She smirked at me, and stuck her tongue out, like she was mocking me.

In that moment, a lot of things became clear to me, as I went straight back to my thoughts. _"You! So that's how it is, huh? That's why she was so eager to join my party even though she'd originally started with Motoyasu. And last night, when she offered me a drink, was she trying to get me drunk? And come to think of it, it was probably her that tried to break into my room last night. It was all for this. She had it out for me from the very beginning, but why? Is it just because Im a demon lord? And for that matter, was anyone else in on this with her? Motoyasu? Ren? Itsuki? The king?"_

While I stood there, deep in thought, several people around me commented, saying that it was a mistake to summon all four heroes at once, especially not the shield hero. Some of them also called me names, like the worst scum of the world.

After a full minute of silence from me, Motoyasu yelled at me again. "Have you anything to say for yourself you criminal? Say something!"

I couldn't hear a word he said, still far too lost in thought for that. My thoughts only got worse as time went on too, as I found myself thinking back to my time on Earth. This trial, everyone's words, it all reminded me of everything the humans on Earth said and did to me for years. Putting me down, calling me names, turning their backs on me when I needed them most, even the occasional public humiliations. It never stopped. That was my life, day after day, even after I shut myself off from the world. And the fact that it had followed me into this world was more then I could take, as I continued to hear the voices of everyone who ever insulted and looked down on me in my head.

During my thoughts, Itsuki spoke up once more. "Refusing to admit that he's guilty, and now refusing to speak at all. So disgraceful."

"Agreed. He doesn't deserve a single ouch of mercy." Ren added, but I still didn't hear or acknowledge either of them.

Motoyasu's facial expression changed after that, as he started grinning smugly, getting an idea. "Why don't we just send him back to his world and summon a new shield hero? Who wants to fight alongside a rapist anyway? Besides, we all know how much he hates his home world. Its like hell to him, so I think its a more then fitting punishment for a demon."

At Motoyasu's suggestion, the king let out a sigh, shaking his head from side to side a few times. "I'm afraid its not that simple. Believe me, I would love nothing more then to banish this vile creature from this world, but the legend states that no new heroes may be summoned until all four of the original cardinal heroes meet their ends."

It was Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki's turn to be shocked when they heard this new information. I heard it as well, having snapped out of my deep thoughts just in time to catch it. Suddenly, all my anger, shock, and confusion was gone, as a big smirk appeared across my face, and much to everyone's continued shock, I erupted into a fit of laughter. "Ahahahahahahahahahahahah!"

All eyes were on me once again, and most were more confused then ever, while some glared at me once more. "What the hell do you think your doing?! You find something funny you bastard?!" Motoyasu was the first to question my behavior, pointing his spear at me again.

It took me a full minute to calm down, but my smirk remained, as I looked at the king and my fellow heroes. "Actually, yeah! I do! All of you! This whole kingdom! Its all one big, sick joke!"

That comment made the king glare at me, as he was starting to get very angry now. "What did you say?! How dare you!"

"Awww, do I offend your royal highness?" I asked in a very smart mouthed tone, but I was just getting started. "Too bad! I've been taking crap from you humans for too long! Well no more! So guess what?! Now its my turn, so all of you just shut up and listen to me!" My voice echoed through the halls of the castle, but I continued before anyone had a chance to speak up. "You might not believe me, but I don't give a damn! Myne is framing me! I don't know why, and I don't know if anyone is helping her do it, but soon enough, none of that will matter! Go ahead! Cast me out! Treat me like scum! Like the plague! Like a nobody! Its nothing new to me! Back in the world I came from, that was every damn day of my life!"

Motoyasu was getting annoyed with me again, and made an attempt to stop me, shouting at me once more. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but if you think for one second that you can-"

However, I cut him off, my eyes glaring into his for only a brief moment. "Go to hell pretty boy!" Once I shut him up, I turned my gaze to the king, continuing to smirk like the demon they were making me out to be. "You said it yourself dumbass! You cant kill me or imprison me! You need me! Whether you like it or not! As long as I've got this shield, I can pretty much do what ever the hell I want!"

As soon as I insulted the king, the guards moved closer to me, gripping their weapons more tightly, as the king became furious. "You wretch! You dare speak to a king that way?! I could have you executed right now! Or have you thrown into the dungeon for the rest of your life!"

"But ya cant! So you better believe I dare speak to a king that way! I've always held strong hatred for you humans, ever since I was thirteen years old, but I never had the power to do anything about it back in my world! But here, in this world, I finally have that chance! Now listen very carefully, because I'm only gonna say this once!" I took a deep breath, calmed down a bit more, then made a declaration that shook everyone who heard it to their cores. "You can try to screw me over all you want, but this world is, and always will be my dream come true! And I refuse to give it up just because some idiotic heroes, bitchy adventurers, or pompous kings wanna see me fail miserably!"

"I might be low leveled now, but mark my words, one day Ill grow into a force so powerful that it'll shake this world to its core! And once that happens, Ill build my own kingdom! One that puts yours to shame! After that, Ill show all of you moronic humans why it was the biggest mistake of your lives to mess with me! So enjoy looking down on me while you can, you pricks, because one day, Ill be the one looking down at each and every one of you while you beg for my help and forgiveness, but ya wont get even a little from me! The time has finally come for me, demon lord Damian Abyss, to rise! I'm headed to the top, and none of you humans can do a single thing about it!" I finally finished speaking after that, striking my usual demon lord pose, taking several deep breaths, not used to yelling this much.

The room was silent for several minutes, as everyone was far too shocked for words. Some even looked at me like I was the bringer of the apocalypse, too scared to say or do anything. This silence was eventually broke by the king, as he looked about ready to explode with pure rage. "GUARDS! SEIZE THE SHIELD HERO! TAKE ALL OF HIS EQUIPMENT AND COINS IMMEDIATELY!"

As their king's order, six guards came at me from six different sides, attempting to take my bag and my armor right off my body, keeping good holds on their weapons as they tried.

But they all underestimated me, and what happened next surprised even me. "GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" The green gemstone in my shield started to glow, and the glow quickly spread to the rest of my body. What followed was a shockwave that was powerful enough to knock all of the guards away from me, and some even landed flat on their backs from the sheer force of the blast. This made me lose my smirk, as I gave the king a very threatening glare. "As far as I'm concerned, you are nothing. You need me, but I don't need you. I don't need any of you." I spoke in a cold, dark tone, then turned to leave, taking all my equipment and coins with me.

Before I could reach the door, Motoyasu ran over to me, grabbing my shoulder, stopping me. "Hey! Wait a second! You're just gonna walk away?! Just like that?! At the very least, you owe all of us here an apology! Now say it!"

I slowly turned to him, not saying a word, then my gaze fell on Myne, and I spoke a few more words to her. "Ya know, there's a special place in hell reserved for people like you Myne. Karma's a bitch, just like you. You'll get what's coming to you someday." After that, I turned back to Motoyasu, and smacked his hand with my shield to make him let me go. "I'm sorry. Did I say you could touch me?" I didn't even wait for an answer, turning back to the door, and walking right out of the throne room, as everyone watched me leave, with Motoyasu and the king glaring at me until they lost sight of me.

Myne didn't give much thought to what I said to her, or anything else I said for that matter. She just continued to keep up her victim act, but was very proud of herself on the inside.

I kept walking without stopping, leaving the castle, while every single knight I passed kept a close eye on me. Nearly all I felt in that moment was rage, thinking about all the humans who've looked down on me in my life once again, but at the same time, I also felt kind of good inside. I didn't fully realize it yet, but it felt really good to finally stand up for myself and let that all out. Everything I said back in the throne room had been building up inside of me since my first year of middle school, and now that I was here, in this new world, I was finally able to let it all out. Even so, I wasn't too badly fazed by my now sullied reputation. It wasn't anything I haven't been through countless times before, and besides, I didn't give a damn what any humans thought of me to begin with.

X

The sky began to grow very cloudy, signaling the approach of incoming rain, as I walked through the town's streets. Everyone I passed was quick to move out of the way, looking at me like I really was the demon lord Id always claimed to be, but I didn't care.

"Hey! Shield hero!" Suddenly, I came to a stop, hearing a familiar voice. It came from Erhard, as he walked over to me, grabbed me by the shoulder, then pinned me against the wall of a building, not looking or sounding very pleased with me. "I heard what you did to that girl. Is it true?"

I looked back at him, a bit surprised by how sudden all of this way, but kept my cool as I answered him. "Would you believe me if I said no? Because I didn't do it. That whole thing was a set up."

"Then answer me this. Are you a human? Or a demon?" Erhard continued to question me, refusing to let me go until he had some answers, looking about ready to punch me if I gave him one that he didn't like.

I maintained my composure, and looked him straight in the eye before answering him. "I am the demon lord, Damian Abyss. But I am no rapist."

Erhard looked into my eyes in silence for several seconds, then sighed, letting me go. "Never mind. Demon or not, your eyes aren't the eyes of a bad person."

"Good. Don't start somethin ya cant finish." I told him, then turned to leave, still feeling quite a bit of anger after my morning in the throne room.

I didn't get very far though, as Erhard stopped me again. "Hold up a second kid. Here. Take this." He holds a green cloak out to me, offering it to me. "Given your new reputation, it'll be hard to find anyone willing to do business with you. So consider this a gift and just take it for some extra protection."

I turned to him once more, looking at the cloak, then at him again. "How much?"

"I'm not sure how much money you've got left after what you've been through, so lets just say five copper pieces. Sound good?" He asked me, his tone softening a bit.

"Sure." I agreed to his terms, gave him the five copper pieces, then put the cloak on, letting it sway at my back and off my shoulders. "Thanks." I was finally able to leave him after that, continuing down the street.

Erhard watched me go, leaning against the wall of the same building he pinned me against. "Take care kid. Don't die."

Getting something to eat proved to be a real challenge, but I finally managed to grad some late breakfast at a small fruit stand. I ate it as I walked, heading straight out of town, and into the fields beyond it. I really needed to blow off some steam right now, and I couldn't think of a better way to do so then by killing more then a few monsters.

By the time I got out to the fields, the sky was almost completely covered by dark clouds. Given how I was feeling, it was almost poetic. Within seconds, a swarm of orange balloons surrounded me, attacking me from every direction, but just like before, their attacks did absolutely nothing to me. My attacks were another story though, as I struck back against them with everything I had, putting all of my anger and frustration into each and every one of my strikes. I started yelling as loud as I could without realizing it, as more and more balloons showed up to fight me, and I welcome them with a strong punch to the face.

Several hours went by before I knew it, and the rain was now coming down hard, so I stopped fighting and took shelter under a tree. Id gained tons more balloon fragments, but I wasn't able to get myself up to level three. I was much more calm now though, feeling like Id vented most, if not all of my frustrations. Back in my old world, whenever I was upset, a good several hours watching anime or playing video games always calmed me down, and fighting monsters was a great substitute for them in this world. I noticed that more balloons had appeared, all glaring right at me, but none of them had made a move on me yet. However, now that my mind was clearer, their presence did give me an idea. So I got up, walked over to them, and decided to give it a try.

X

I ended up staying out all night, sleeping in the forest. I finally re-entered the town the following morning, with the sun shinning brightly overhead, now that the rain had stopped. I decided that it was about time I traded in all the balloon fragments I had for some money, as they were starting to overcrowd the inside of my bag. So I pulled out my map of town, and followed it to a shop that bought and sold monster goods. When I arrived at the shop, there was a person in front of me, selling some balloon fragments of his own, so I decided to do some ease dropping.

After the man in front of me got his money, he turned to leave, flinching in fear when he saw me, which actually made me feel kinda nice. Ive been wishing for that kind of power over humans for years. I approached the counter, and dropped a huge wad of balloon fragments in front of the shop owner, as he looked at them, surprised to see so many at once. "How much can I get for all of these?"

The shop owner started taking a closer look at them, doing his best to stay calm and collected. "Orange balloon fragments, are they? About twenty of them by my count. How does one copper for all of them sound?"

My gaze narrowed at him after that, but I kind of already expected this sort of treatment. "You offered the last guy one copper for every two. You got a problem with me or somethin?"

The shop owner moved his fingers under his chin, trying to play all of this off. "Did I now? I don't recall saying anything like that. And no, of course not, but you must understand that I have a business to run. People come here with balloon fragments all the time, and I cant make any money if this keeps up. Sorry kid."

"Ya know, that's a real shame, because I have some very hungry little friends to feed." I smirked, opening my cloak, revealing several orange balloons, with their jaws clamped tightly to my body, but I didn't feel any pain at all, so I didn't mind. The shop owner flinched when he saw them, but before he could back away, I grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand, and one of my balloon friends with the other. "They'll be pretty upset if they don't get any dinner tonight, but I'm sure I can find something around here to satisfy their hunger. What do you think?" The balloon in my hand growled at the shop owner, as I brought it right up to his face, making him scream in terror.

Several people who were walking around heard his screams, as the balloon bit down on his nose, as he struggling in my grip, trying to get away, but I wasn't about to let that happen. "So, ya gonna continue tryin to short change me, or do we have an understanding?"

"Okay! Okay! You win! Just get this thing off of me! It hurts!" The shop owner begged me, so I pulled the balloon off of his face, putting it back under my cloak so it could continue nibbling on my body.

"Good choice. Make sure you remember that pain, and while your at it, tell all the other merchants in this town what just happened to you, and that it'll happen to them if they try any of that crap with me." Still smirking, I informed the shop owner of all of this, as he gave me ten copper coins for all my balloon fragments.

"Yes sir, as you wish." He nodded at me, rubbing his nose, as it now had a big red bite mark on it.

"Later, rip off artist." Was the last thing I said to the shop owner before turning and walking away, putting the money I just got away in my coin pouch.

I didn't do much else the rest of the day, and ended up sleeping outside in the forest again, really not wanting to be around humans at this time. The balloon monsters I had with me made surprisingly good pillows. The following morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn, and rather then fight more balloons, I decided to have a look around the forest, looking for rare items. My search lead me to some herbs at the base of a tree. I knelt down to get a better look, then grabbed one, and fed it to my shield. To my surprise, my status screen made an appearance after that, showing me that I had unlocked several new shields. The Orange Small Shield, the Yellow Small Shield, and the Leaf Shield. All with more branches attached to them on my shield's upgrade tree.

I also noticed a small increase in my stats as well, mostly defense and HP, but it was still a very welcome surprise. "New shields? I didn't think it would happen so soon. Lets see what this one can do. Leaf Shield." I held out my right arm with my shield on it, and focused. Just then, the gemstone in my shield started to glow, as the whole shield transformed, apart from the gemstone in the middle. My shield now looked like a huge leaf, and it peaked my curiosity for sure. "Interesting. I wonder..." With my Leaf Shield equipped, I tried picking some more herbs. When I did, my shield began to glow once more, spreading that glow to the herb I just picked, making the leaves grow in seconds, as another status screen informed me that the herb's quality had been improved, and was now a rare item. This was another very pleasant surprise for me, making me smile as I picked a bunch more.

X

I stayed out until nightfall, then headed back into town to sell the rare items I've managed to collect. With the help of my trusty map, I found my way to a shop that specializes in medicines, walking inside, and showing the shop owner what I had to offer him.

"These herbs are amazing. Where did you find them?" The man asked me, taking a closer look at one of my herbs.

"In the forest right outside the town. They were all over the place." I answered him, feeling very pleased with myself.

"Unbelievable. I knew there were herbs out there, but I've never seen them in such high quality before." He remarked, placing my payment for the herbs on the counter, which I collected before leaving his shop.

Now that that was over and done, I decided that Id rather sleep in a real bed tonight. So I headed to the same inn I stayed in during my first night of my adventure. The service wasn't as friendly this time around, but that made no difference to me. I ordered some food for myself, paid for it once it arrived, then started eating.

Sadly, my small moment of peace was interrupted by the appearance of three very unwelcome male adventurers. They walked right up to me with grins on their faces, as my back was currently turned to them. "Shield hero. We've been looking for you. Looks like you still don't have any party members. We thought we'd offer our services to you."

"Yeah, that's right. Today's your lucky day." Another of them said to me, placing his hand on my shoulder, which I didn't like one bit.

However, I stayed calm and collected, responding to them after putting down my fork. "Very well then. If you insist. Why don't we skip the formalities and just talk terms?"

"That sounds perfect. What did you have in mind?" One of them asked me, as they all still looked and sounded like this was a sure thing.

"Your pay will be completely performance based. Meaning that if you don't work, you don't get paid, and even if you do work with me, as the leader, Ill be keeping no less then 40% for myself. You can divvy up the rest among yourselves." I informed them, speaking to them in a calm, reasonable tone of voice.

However, they didn't seem to like any of this very much, as they all lost their grins, and started giving me a pretty bad stink look. "What the hell is that? That means if things don't go your way, you could end up keeping all the loot for yourself!"

I then got up from my chair, turning towards the exit of the inn. "Id say its more then fair. You do your jobs, and I pay you. Its as simple as that. Although, if I'm being honest, none of you look very capable."

That comment made them all glare at me for a moment, but they stayed cool for now, as one of them had another question for me. "Well then, if that's the case, how about you go buy us some new equipment, boss man?"

"Hmmm...Ya know, that sounds like an excellent idea. Lets go now." I gave them my answer, starting to walk out the door, but my true intentions were far less pleasant.

Still, that was all the three of them needed to hear, as they followed me outside, and into an abandoned street in the middle of the night. "Now that's more like it. Lead the way shield hero."

We didn't end up walking for very long, as they all got their smirks back, and stopped as soon as we were far enough away from the inn. "Okay, that should be far enough. Like hell we were ever gonna join up with you. Now hand over all your money, shield hero."

I came to a stop once I heard this, and sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You think I was born yesterday? You cant fool a demon lord with such an obvious trick. Humans really are so stupid."

"Yeah right. Your the stupid one! Letting us bring you all the way out here with no back up." One of them said to me, then laughed, as he and his two friends pulled out some knives.

I then let out a small laugh of my own, glancing at them, as I reached under my cloak. "Whoever said I was alone?" In seconds, I turned around, grabbed three balloons off of my body, and threw them at the three men, one after the other.

This caught all three of them completely by surprise, as my balloons growled and bite down on the first body part they could get their mouths on. The three adventurers screamed in shock and pain, but before they had a chance to try removing the balloons, I charged in, smacking them all upside their heads with my shield as hard as I could.

Every time one of them managed to collect themselves long enough to get a shot at me, I easily blocked their attack with my shield, knocking them to the ground, as my balloons continued to do what they did best. After a few more good smacks to the face, all three men were on the ground, as my balloons kept chewing on them. I knelt down to one of them, grabbed him by his hair, and looked him straight in the eye. "How about this instead? You give me all your money, and Ill let you three bozos walk away."

The man I had my grip on weakly looked at me, still thinking that he and his friends had the upper hand. "...You cant kill us...Your a hero...This kingdom would have you arrested for sure."

"I'm a demon lord before anything else, and as for this kingdom, who the hell cares? I'm already criminal here, and you three are just a pack of nobodies. So don't think I wont do it." I smirked at him, holding a fourth balloon up to his face, as it growled and tried to bite at his face.

This made him flinch, looking like he was about ready to piss himself. He and his two friends quickly agreed to my terms, handing over all their coins to me, then running off with fear in their voices.

I counted up the coins I got from them, which wasn't much, but money is money. I then gathered up my four balloons, putting them back in their places under my cloak, but kept one out, starting to talk to it. "You guys really saved me there. Thanks. Id sooner team up with you guys then any human anyway. Still, we are in a really tight spot. I have little to no offensive power, so I cant slay monsters like you, so I cant gather experience points, and therefore, I cant raise my offensive power. Its an endless cycle. What do you think about that? Any thoughts?" I held up the orange balloon in front of my face, talking to it like it could understand me.

As one would expect, the balloon monster only glared at me with its glowing red eyes, growled at me, and tried to bite me.

Even so, I accepted this as a response, and kept talking to it. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Thanks anyway." I put the balloon back under my cloak with its fellow monsters, then leaned against the wall of a building, looking up at the night sky. _"That didn't count as talking to myself, right?" _I asked myself, not really sure about the answer though.

My thoughts were once again interrupted by the sound of a new voice, coming from an ally way several feet away from where I stood. "Looks like you could use some help."

I was surprised to hear anyone out at this hour, as I turned to see who was talking to me. I was surprised to see a rather short man with a mustache, wearing glasses, a top hat, and a suit. "And who exactly are you?"

The short man grinned a very toothy grin at me, letting some laughter escape his lips before he responded. "You can call me Beloukas, and I have exactly what you need."

His words made me raise an eyebrow at him, my curiosity peaking. "What? You mean party members?"

"Party members? Oh no. What I'm offering you is something far more convenient." The man responded to me, taking a few steps towards me.

It was a bit surprising for me, but the more he spoke, the more curious I became. It quickly got to the point where my curiosity was very visible all over my face.

"Interested, are we?" Beloukas quickly picked up on this, chuckling to himself a little.

I snapped out of it, and quickly regained my composure, trying not to lose it again. "Will you just get to the point already? I'm sure you already know who I am, right?"

He laughs some more, then goes right back to his smooth talk. "Indeed I do, and I have to say, I like what I'm seeing so far, shield hero sir. If my offer interests you, Id be more then happy to discuss it further if you'd be so kind as to follow me." He gave me a bow, gesturing during another street, expecting me to follow him.

As always, I did my best to avoid spending extended periods of time with humans, but this man's words had worked their magic on me. My curiosity was peaked, and I couldn't help wanting to see what exactly he was offering to me. So I started following him through the dark city streets, wondering where he was taking me. Eventually, I got my answer, as he lead me to what could only be described as a large circus tent in the middle of a plaza. "Huh? Is the circus in town? I don't remember seeing this place on my map of town."

"You wont find this place on any map I'm afraid. The business I do here is kind of top secret." Beloukas was nice enough to give me some kind of explanation, but to me, that meant that what ever his business was, it was on the shady side of things.

Still, after Id pretty much just mugged three adventurers, I wasn't really in a position to call him on it, even if they were scumbags. So I continued to follow him, as he lead me inside the tent, and I got a good look around, noticing all kinds of cages. Not long after, I noticed a lot of different noises, ranging from human speech to animal sounds, such as growls and hissing. After about thirty seconds of silently looking around, I finally understood what he was offering me. "So, you run slave trading business, huh?"

After some more laughs, Beloukas turned to me, his grin still present on his face. "You got it my boy. You are a smart one."

I looked back at him, keeping a level head, though I had to admit, this did have me mildly excited. I know most people would be firmly opposed to buying a slave, but I could tell right away that there weren't any humans in any of the cages in this tent, and that got me excited. Still, I did well to keep a level head, not letting my excitement show, worried he might charge me extra if he thinks Im overly interested. "So this world does have slaves. I kind of had a feeling, but I wasn't sure where to even begin to look for a place like this. What can you tell me about these slaves?"

"Well, for starters, they cant lie to or bring harm to their masters. We keep all our slaves in line with a very powerful curse, which we call a slave crest. Its a seal based curse, and if the slaves misbehave too much, it can take their very lives. So what do you say?" He explained to me, then waited for my answer.

I began to think it over right away. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal to me, all things considered. Id get a demi-human party member, one that could never lie to me or betray me in any way, shape, or form, and if I was lucky, Beloukas might have some attractive female demi-humans among these slaves. "Hmmm...Okay, show me what you've got."

"Exactly what I was hoping to hear. I just knew you'd make a wonderful patron, shield hero sir." The short man said to me, then turned, starting to walk around, expecting me to follow, as he showed me a wide variety of slaves.

As we walked, I continued to look around, but nothing really stood out to me right away. "Question. I can see that some of them are demi-humans, but what do you call the ones that look more like animals?"

"A very good question. As I'm sure your aware, demi-humans look mostly human, but have several animalistic parts on their bodies. Ears, tails, fangs, some even have wings. Their mostly used for manual labor though, not really for fighting. The ones that look more like animals are called beastmen. Beastmen are usually used as body guards, or are gambled on as participants in death matches." Beloukas answered me, as we kept walking, and a lot of the demi-humans and beastmen inside the cages reached out at us as we walked passed them.

I nodded, listening to him, not paying much mind to the slaves who tried to reach out and grab me. "I see. So would both be under the same category then?"

He nodded right back at me, quick to answer me once again. "Correct, and since Melromarc practices human supremacy, demi-humans are thought to be closer to monsters here. Life can be hard for them in this country, which is why their treated as slaves in the first place."

Beloukas' latest answer really struck a cord with me, and it got me thinking, as I looked around at all the demi-humans and beastmen I could see. _"In other words, humans have made their lives hell. Just like me. We're not so different. Me and these guys. I'm sure most of, if not all of them hate humans just as much as I do, if not more."_

Right as I finished my thought, Beloukas called me over to one of the cages. "Shield hero, over here. Take a look at this fellow. I think he'd be a perfect fit for a cardinal hero such as yourself."

I turned to him as soon as I heard his voice, and started walking over to the cage he'd pointed out, but my hopes weren't too high, especially when I heard him say "he'd". Nothing against male demi-humans or beastmen, but I was mainly looking for females. Still, it couldn't hurt to look. As soon as I arrived at the cage, he pulled the sheet off of it, and I was a bit surprised when a werewolf looking beastman charged right at the bars, growling and glaring at me.

Beloukas gestured to the slave, giving me a brief explanation of it. "This one is at level 75."

I was surprised again to hear this, not expecting him to have such a high leveled slave on hand. _"Level 75? Why the hell would anyone throw this guy away?" _I asked myself, then glanced at Beloukas. "How much do you want for him?"

"Well, it is highly capable in battle and a very rare species. How does fifteen gold coins sound to you?" He answered me, knowing that I didn't have anywhere near that kind of money.

I could tell right away what he was doing, as I responded to his offer. "Trying to wet my appetite, are you? I'm guessing this guy is your most expensive slave, and you and I both know that I cant afford him, so your showing me this guy in hopes that Ill be back one day. That about right?"

He laughs some more before responding, turning to face me again. "You got me all figured out. Your gonna become one of my best customers, I can tell. Its just good business. So now that you've seen my best, lets talk seriously. Just what kind of slave are you looking for? A strong one? A fast one? One with high levels of magic power perhaps?"

"Since you asked, I am impressed with how strong this werewolf guy is, but you see, one of my biggest dreams is to have my own harem. One filled with beautiful demi-human girls, and Id like it if they could hold their own in a fight. I am still the shield hero who cant fight on his own, so I do need party members who can fight for me." I answered him honestly, not having anything to hide from anyone.

"So beautiful and capable then? Your in luck shield hero. I do have one slave that fits your requirements perfectly. She was acquired very recently, and is truly one of a kind. I warn you though, she can be pretty foul tempered, especially towards humans." His grin widened a little as he informed me of this, giving me a warning as well.

His words managed to capture my attention in a big way, as I started grinning too. "Its a good thing I'm no mere human then. I am the demon lord, Damian Abyss. Show me this slave of yours."

My response makes him laugh even more, but not in a mocking sort of way, so I didn't mind it much. "You know, I'm beginning to like you shield hero. She's right this way. Follow me." He started leading me to this beautiful and capable slave he spoke of, sounding even more enthusiastic then before.

I followed him right away, eager to see what he had in store for me. I had no idea what kind of demi-human or beastman I was about to see, but I had a very good feeling about her, especially after Beloukas told me about her attitude towards humans. _"As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Except I'm a demon lord, and she's who knows what, but I cant wait to find out." _Dozens of possibilities raced through my mind, as I got more and more excited with every step I took, with some nervousness mixed in as well, admittedly. _"Its been years since Ive had any real friends, and Ive never even had a girlfriend before, but right now, I really need help. So come on Damian. You can do this. Win her over. Somehow." _I thought to myself, with determination in my eyes, knowing that if I could get through to this girl, it would be the start of a beautiful friendship, and possibly more down the line.

**Well, I guess Damian's learned the hard way that no matter what world your in, there will always be some serious A-holes. Still, he seems to have met a few decent people, and one of them is about to present Damian with a possible solution to his dilemma. How will this turn out? Will Damian be able to win this human hating slave over to his side? Just what kind of girl is she? What will Damian do if it doesn't work out? And what exactly am I hiding up my sleeve?**

**Care to take any wild guesses at some of those questions? If not, you'll get the answers to all of these questions and more next time, so hopefully you'll be interested enough to stick around and find out.**

**As always, if you have any other questions about my story so far, I encourage you to please post a review or PM me. Which ever you prefer. I cant promise any spoilers, but I'm more then happy to at least offer up some kind of explanation. Perhaps even a small hint or two if I'm feeling generous.**

**I promise Ill get the next chapter up as soon as I can, and until then, your patience is very much appreciated. Thank you all, and I hope to see and/or hear from you all next time! See ya later!**


	4. Ch 3 - Roxanne

**Hello again all my readers and fans! I'm very happy to be bringing you another chapter of The Demon Lord of the Shield! **

**I don't mean to keep letting the amount of time between chapter releases be so long, but on the up side, I'm starting to get an idea of how long it should take. Usually about a week, but some might take me a little more time. In which case, I apologize in advance, and thank you for being so patient.**

**Anyway, before we get into the chapter, let me take this time to address some comments and PM's from my readers. First, thank you LuBu081. I probably should've mentioned this before, but in addition to being autistic, I'm also mildly dyslexic, so sometimes I miss little things like contractions. I know, I'm a mess, but that didn't stop me from going back and correcting these errors. I think I got em all, but I might've still missed one or two. Ill try to do better with this from now on.**

**Second, zeldawolffang and Dante, both of your ideas have me intrigued. I've already started thinking of when and how I can add those into this story. So thank you both for the ideas, and hopefully you'll both like what you see later on.**

**A big thanks to everyone else who reviewed and PM'd me as well. Even if not all of your comments were positive, I still appreciate your interest in my story.**

**Now on with said story! And please, before you start hating or anything like that, read the message at the end of the chapter. Its very important, and Id appreciate it if everyone would kindly read it before posting any reviews. Thank you.**

Chapter 3 - Roxanne

My thoughts raced as I continued to follow Beloukas to his supposed beautiful and capable female demi-human slave, but I was finally able to snap out of it when I heard him speak to me again. "I've told you before that demi-humans aren't really made for combat, and this particular slave I'm about to show you has never actually been in battle before."

This information had me confused, so before we arrived at her cage, I decided to gather some more information. "If she's never been in battle then what makes her so capable?"

"Oh you'll see. Her particular species isn't seen by humans very often, and they're incredibly difficult to catch. She may not have any combat experience, but this girl is a survivor." The slave trader answered me, keeping his explanation rather vague though.

"Well it doesn't matter anyway. If she can hold a weapon, then that's all that I need to train her. We can get stronger together." I responded to him with confidence in my voice, already having a very good feeling about this demi-human girl.

"That's an amusing statement, especially considering that you don't believe in people." Beloukas said to me, still guiding me to her cage.

I grinned at this statement, letting out a single laugh. "Ha. Correction. I don't believe in humans, but demi-humans aren't technically humans. In fact, I've got quite a lot in common with these slaves. For example, I'm not exactly sure why yet, but this kingdom and its people seem to really hate our guts, and look down on us too."

This made Beloukas laugh too, much more then I just did. "Ahahahahah! Well you've got me there shield hero!" Several steps after that, he came to a stop, grabbing a sheet that was covering another cage. "She's here. Take a good look shield hero." He pulled the sheet off of the cage, revealing the demi-human girl inside to me.

As soon as he did, I got my first look at the female demi-human inside, and I couldn't help letting out a small gasp, very surprised by the being that now filled my gaze.

The female demi-human was quite the looker, looking to be roughly eighteen years of age, give or take a month or two. By my best estimate, Id say she's just an inch or two shorter then I was, and she had a very nice figure to go along with that height. She was lean, fit, and had some nice looking curves as well. I also noticed that she had very pale, white skin, with white hair to match, which flowed freely down her back, stopping just above her shoulders. But the biggest things I noticed about her were the two fox ears she had on top of her head, and the fox tail she had too. It was also easy to see that her whole body was covered in scratches and bruises, and she was dressed in some very old and dirty rags for clothes, much like most of the other slaves inside this tent.

Since she was on her knees, I knelt down to meet her at eye level, still too surprised for words though.

Seconds after I did this, she slowly looked back at me, her bright red eyes giving off a faint glow in the shadows she sat in. She glared at me and grit her teeth, which seemed to have a pair of fangs on either side of her mouth. She had chains around her neck, arms, and legs, as well as what I could only assume was a slave crest just above her chest, so she was unable to do much more then just glare at me.

Her eyes made me gasp again, as a memory surfaced in my mind. It wasn't clear, but Id definitely seen this girl before. _"This girl is...that girl from my dream. The one I had before coming to this world. I cant believe its really her." _I thought to myself, unable to remember much from that dream, but I could never forget those ears, that tail, and those eyes.

Its was then that Beloukas spoke up, forcing me to come back to reality once again. "Like what you see shield hero sir? This girl is one of the rarest species of demi-humans there is. A kitsune. An albino kitsune to be exact, as you can see. The kitsune are fox-like demi-humans, and are well known for their beauty and elegance."

"Sorry, but flattery will get you nowhere." The female kitsune spoke up very suddenly. Her voice was weak, yet still sounded quite annoyed.

Her comment made Beloukas chuckle some more, and made him turn to her. "See what I mean? She might be pleasing to the eye, but that's the only pleasant thing about her. I had a hell of a time getting those chains and that slave crest on her."

"You said she'd be capable in battle, and I can see that she has a fire in her eyes, but there must be more to it then that. What did you mean by that?" I asked Beloukas, never taking my eyes off the girl even for a second.

"A good question. You see, kitsune are known for more then just beauty. Its been said that they're very versatile in the magic department, able to wield multiple magical affinities. Their specialties are light, dark, and fire magic. They're also masters of illusions, but since they're so rarely seen, I'm afraid I cant tell you anymore then that." Beloukas told me everything he knew, and that only peaked my interest in this girl even more.

I nodded, listening to him. "I see. That is impressive." I then took a deep breath, deciding to try talking to her now. "Hi there. My name's Damian Abyss. What's yours?" I smiled at her, doing my best to sound friendly, but she wasn't so friendly.

"Don't speak to me so formally. If you're here to buy me, then you can forget it. Id rather die then be some human's slave." She said, in a firm, unyielding tone, keeping her glare locked on me.

Her response made me lose my smile, and made me start to think. _"That slave trader was right. I'm not sure why, but she really seems to hate humans. So maybe..." _I got an idea, standing back up on my feet, grinning, and striking my usual demon lord pose, covering the left side of my face with one hand. "Do not be fooled, my dear kitsune, for I am no mere human. Though I may look like one, I am actually a demon lord, summoned from another world to be this world's shield hero. And just like you, I hold great animosity towards those insufferable humans. You see, I have been wronged by them more times then I care to count, and it is my dream to build my own kingdom, one made just for inhuman beings like you and me. Sadly, my current power levels are weak, and as the shield hero, I am unable to gain power on my own."

The kitsune and Beloukas listened to my speech, as I got back down on my knees to meet the girl at eye level before continuing. "That's why I've come here. I refuse to ally myself with any weak humans, but Id gladly join forces with a demi-human, such as yourself. So I ask you, will you please come with me and join my cause? Do, and I promise to get you out of here, and treat you far better then any human ever would. We'll grow strong together, go on lots of adventures, and hopefully become close friends. And one day, we'll show each and every one of those pathetic humans why it was a mistake to look down on us." I finished my speech, then waited for a response from her, hoping that did the trick.

The kitsune girl fell silent after hearing all of that, looking back at me with a fair amount of shock on her face at first, which quickly turned into an expression of contemplation after Id finished speaking. "...Are you really the shield hero?"

I nodded, holding my shield her out to her. "I am. Now will you please tell me your name?"

She was hesitant at first, but after a little more thinking, she finally gave me her name. "Roxanne."

I smiled at her again when she answered me, knowing that I was able to get through to her at least a little. "Its nice to meet you Roxanne." I turned to Beloukas after that, already making the decision to buy her. "How much do ya want for her?"

The short man grinned at me upon hearing this, starting to sound excited. "As I've said, kitsune are quite rare, and very beautiful. However, as you can see, this one is a little rough around the edges, to put it mildly, and she's currently only level one. Plus, I've yet to see her be this open with anyone. So Ill give you a special deal on her, shield hero sir. Four gold coins. Does that sound good to you?"

"I don't have any gold coins. Can I pay you with silver coins instead?" I asked, hoping he'd agree to this.

"But of course. I am a reasonable man. That'll be 400 silver coins then." He answered me, taking out his keys to unlock the cage.

This made me smile again, and even though it was just for a moment, Roxanne got a small smile on her face too.

Beloukas opened the cage, and removed Roxanne's chains, but she made no effort to run or escape, as the slave crest kept her from doing so. The three of us then walked to another part of the tent, which looked to be where Beloukas kept all of his money, paperwork, and other equipment. He took out all the necessary equipment to form a new slave crest, and told me that he'd need some of my blood to make it work.

I nodded, then bit my thumb, making it bleed. I then let some of my blood drop into the bowl that he'd taken out and filled with some kind of potion. As I did this, I looked over at Roxanne, who was standing on the other side of the room, waiting patiently. "Roxanne, I'm really sorry about this. I hope you can forgive me one day."

She looked back at me, looking a bit uneasy, but not angry. "Its fine. If you can get me out of here, and you really meant everything you said, then Ill accept this. It definitely beats sitting in here, wasting my life."

"Very well then. Lets begin." Beloukas grabbed the bowl and a brush, then walked over to Roxanne, moving her clothes a bit so he could get a clear view of her slave crest. Roxanne didn't resist, as Beloukas started painting a circle around her slave crest with the potion that had my blood in it.

Once he was finished, the slave crest started glowing, looking like it was burning Roxanne. She gasped when the burning started, but she grit her teeth, and endured the pain.

Seeing all of this made me a little concerned, but my focus was quickly called to my status screen, as it opened by itself. It informed me that the contract between me and Roxanne was complete, and asked me if I would like to set her as a companion. I wasn't exactly sure what it meant, but I accepted. Once I did, Roxanne's name and status bars appeared below mine in the upper right hand corner of my vision, as the screen showed me all of her stats as well.

With his work complete, Beloukas stepped back, putting the bowl and brush down. "There you go. She's all yours."

Hearing his voice, I made my status screen vanish for now, and pulled out my money pouch, taking out the money I owed him. "400 silvers, right? Here. Plus one extra for the commission." I put the money down on the table in the room, then turned my attention back to Roxanne.

Beloukas laughed a bit more, pleased that I already knew he was planning to charge me one extra silver coin. "Well, you certainly know your stuff."

I walked over to Roxanne as she finally got over the pain caused by her slave crest, then our eyes met, making us both blush slightly for a moment. It quickly became apparent that neither of us had much experience when it came to interacting with others, or being this close to others, especially when it came to the opposite sex. Needless to say, things felt awkward right away, so I decided to quickly break the ice. "So...its a little late to buy you some new clothes, but your probably starving. I already paid for a room at a local inn, so lets head there now and get you something to eat."

At the mention of food, Roxanne's stomach began to growl, making her blush harder, as her ears moved down out of embarrassment. "...Id like that. I haven't had a decent meal is days."

The sound of her stomach, her resulting embarrassment, and the movement of her ears made me let out a few laughs, as I found all this to be very cute.

When she heard my laughter, she continued to blush, giving me a light glare. "Hey, don't laugh at me."

"Don't worry Roxanne. I might be your master now, but I have absolutely no intention of making your life hell. So before we start any training, lets get you fed, clothed, and cleaned up. When I'm done with you, you'll be the greatest demi-human warrior this world has ever seen. You'll see." I gave her another friendly smile, not really bothered by her glare at all.

The kitsune's expression quickly softened when she heard all of this from me. After glancing at the legendary shield on my arm, she gave me a response. "That does sound nice. I have always dreamed of walking the path of a warrior."

"Is that so? Id really like to hear more about you Roxanne, but we can talk more after you've had a chance to fill your stomach. Follow me." I turned, leaving the tent, as Roxanne followed close behind me. Before exiting the tent, I turned back to Beloukas once more, and waved to him. "Thanks for this. You might be a human, but I do appreciate your help. Ill be back one day." I left his place of business with my new teammate after that. As far as humans go, like Erhard, I actually didn't mind Beloukas all that much.

The slave trader waved back to me, his grin still present on his face as he did. "Take care shield hero. I hope to see you again soon." Once me and Roxanne were gone, he chuckled to himself once more. "So he really did end up choosing her. I'm eager to see where those two will go from here."

X

The walk back to the inn was relatively silent. Neither of us said a word. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of our footsteps, and the occasional growling of Roxanne's stomach, which did help lighten the mood a bit. I got a few more laughs in, and she blushed and grumbled to herself. I made sure to walk slower the whole way back, not wanting her to get left behind in her current state.

As soon as we arrived at the inn, Roxanne hesitated a bit, noticing the sign out in front saying that they don't serve demi-humans.

I stopped a little after she did, noticing her hesitation, and did by best to assure her that everything would be okay. "You're with me, so try not to worry. Everything will be fine."

Her ears perked up when she heard me, as she slowly raised her head, looking at me for a moment. Several seconds later, she followed me inside, making sure to stay close to me the whole time.

Needless to say, when the two of us walked inside the inn, we got more then a few stink looks. People already hated my guts, and bringing a demi-human into a place that claimed not to serve them definitely wasn't helping. All the stares and whispers didn't bother me, and they didn't seem to bother Roxanne much either, but she did still look mildly uneasy.

I picked out a table for us, then we both say down, on either side of the table. Fortunately, my reputation did us some good. When I called a waiter over, he came right away, clearly intimidated by me. Being that Id already eaten, I didn't order anything for myself, but I did tell him to bring out plenty of food for Roxanne. The waiter agreed, I paid him, then he left to go inform the chefs of the order. A few people continued to stare at us, but that came to an end when I moved my cloak, showing them the balloon monsters on my body.

Roxanne was surprised to see them as well, then looked at me with some concern on her face and in her voice. "Balloons? Doesn't that hurt you?"

I turned back to her upon hearing her voice, giving her a reassuring smile and shaking my head. "No. Not really. I mostly keep em around for intimidation, but I'm actually starting to like these little guys."

"Uhhh...Okay then. If you say so, lord Damian." Roxanne replied to me, finding this to be a little strange.

It was my turn to be surprised after that, hiding the balloons beneath my cloak once again. "Lord Damian?"

"Well yes. You are my master, and a demon lord. Just calling you Damian would feel silly." Roxanne said to me, giving me a small smile in return.

Back in my world, the only things people ever called my besides my name were insults, so being called "Lord Damian" was a more then welcome change of pace for me. That, and her smile were both very nice, making me blush a little out of flattery. "Not gonna lie, I do like the sound of that, but Roxanne, you know I really wouldn't mind erasing that slave crest if you wanted me to. Id like it more if we were friends, rather then master and slave."

Roxanne's tail began to slowly sway from side to side after she'd heard that from me, as she began to nervously play with her fingers under the table. "I really do appreciate that lord Damian, but honestly, Id feel a lot safer with my slave crest then without it. At least for now. If I didn't have this slave crest, Id only end up getting captured by another human, just like before, then sold as a slave again. Besides, I feel kind of lucky to be your slave."

I found myself mesmerized by the sway of her tail for a moment, but raised an eyebrow at her when I snapped out of it, confused by her rather surprising level of comfort around me. "Not that I'm not grateful, but what makes you say that? We barely know each other."

"Yes, I know, but you're the shield hero. That's reason enough for me to at least give you a chance." Roxanne answered me, her eyes once again drawn to the shield on my arm.

Her answer left me with even more questions, but rather then pester her with them, I decided once again to wait until she'd had enough to eat and had her strength back. "Thanks, I guess. We can talk more later, and believe me, I've got quite a few questions for you. And of course, Ill answer any questions you have about me. I've got nothing to hide, especially from my teammates."

Roxanne nodded, already starting to think up a few questions to ask me later. "I understand. Thank you, lord Damian."

Roxanne's meal came not long after that, as the waiter brought it to our table. Upon seeing the small feast spread before her, Roxanne gasped, looking at all the food with sparkles in her eyes, drooling slightly, as her tail started swaying a little faster.

I found myself laughing a bit more, still finding her and her antics very cute. "Well, dig in. Its all for you. I already had my dinner."

Roxanne calmed herself down quickly, wiping the drool from her mouth, blushing again, embarrassed that I saw her like that. "...Thank you very much lord Damian." The aroma filled her nose, and her stomach growled once more. She couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed her fork, and dug right in, eating like she hadn't had a single bite to eat in days. She started choking about halfway through her meal, so I pushed her glass of water closer to her. She grabbed it, drank it down, took a deep breath, then went straight back to eating.

After she finally finished eating, I gave her one of the potions I bought, knowing that it would help with her scratches and bruises at least a little.

She drank it all, then I lead her up to my room at the inn. I told her to make herself comfortable, while I go get her some clean water, some soap, and a washcloth she can use to clean herself up with. Roxanne sat on the bed, and waited patiently for me to return, which I did about ten minutes later, carrying everything I knew she'd need to wash herself. I had to threaten the inn keeper to get it all, but that was easy with my balloon friends. Since all the shops were closed for the night, the only clean clothes I had were the ones I was originally summoned to this world in. Roxanne told me that she didn't mind, so I put the clothes down on the table, then left the room, telling her that Id wait outside until she was finished.

I ended up waiting for about forty minutes, but I didn't mind, as Roxanne called me back into the room at that point. I walked back into the room, and found her sitting on the bed once more, looking much cleaner, dressed in the clothes I was summoned in, including my anime hoodie. "Sorry that's all I have. We'll buy you some gear of your own tomorrow." I said to her, closing the door behind me, and sitting down in one of the chairs in the room.

Roxanne squirmed around a little in my clothes, doing her best to get comfortable in them. "They aren't a perfect fit, but they'll do for now. Thank you again lord Damian. Now, I believe you had some questions for me?"

I turned to her, nodded, and quickly decided which question to ask her first. "Yeah. First of all, I thought kitsune had nine tails, so how come you only have one?"

"Did you think we were all born that way? All kitsune start off with only one tail. The other eight grow in after we reach certain levels. Every ten levels we gain, a new tail grows in. So Ill get my second tail at level ten, then my third at level twenty, and so on. Provided I make it that far of course. Since most demi-humans don't fight, we rarely gain levels. The only reason I know about my tails is because of some stories my parents told me when I was younger." Roxanne answered me with great detail, doing her best to look me in the eye the entire time, as we both started growing more comfortable around each other as time went on.

I listened to her with great interest, having no idea that that's how it worked in this world. "I see. That means you'll have all nine of your tails by level eighty. Don't worry, we'll both get there someday. Next question, you mentioned before that you've always wanted to walk the path of the warrior. What did you mean by that?"

This question made her look away from me a bit, but she still gave me an answer. "Oh, that. Well, its been a dream of mine ever since I was six. Its a little embarrassing to talk about, but I've dreamed of becoming a strong adventurer one day. As you know, most demi-humans don't bother raising their levels or learning how to use weapons. They just keep to themselves and do their best to live peaceful lives, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I always thought I could do better. My family used to own and run a shrine, and I was next in line to become the head of that shrine, but I wanted more out of life. Of course, my parents were opposed to the idea, telling me time and time again that humans would never accept a demi-human adventurer, but I knew one person that would. The shield hero. In fact, its kind of also been a dream of mine to one day team up with him and fight by his side." She blushed again while explaining that last part, playing with her fingers just like before.

The more I listened to her, the more I realized just how much we had in common. "Well, I guess you're in luck then. I'm happy to have you with me Roxanne. Honestly, its kinda crazy how much we seem to have in common. Back in my home world, it was my greatest dream to come to a world just like this one and build a kingdom of my own, but everyone thought I was insane for pursuing such a thing. Even my own parents didn't support my dream, and tried to make me give it up, but now, here we are. We've both been given the chance to make our dreams a reality, and I know we can make it happen Roxanne." I smiled at her, my voice filled with more confidence then ever.

This made Roxanne turn to me again, and return my smile, nodding at me. "I know. I almost cant believe any of this is really happening. You're not exactly how I always imagined you'd be, but I guess that's mostly the human's fault, isn't it?"

It stung a little when she said that I wasn't how she'd imagined Id be, as I began to wonder what kind of fantasies she'd had about the shield hero before today, but I pushed those thoughts aside when she brought up the humans, losing my smile. "Yeah, mostly. I've been in this kingdom for two days, and I've already been branded a criminal."

"Oh yeah. How did that happen anyway? I thought the four cardinal heroes were the saviors of this world." Roxanne asked me, tilting her head in confusion.

I sighed before answering her, as it wasn't something I liked remembering. "I don't know all the details myself, but for what ever reason, a female adventurer of this kingdom framed me. She told everyone that I raped her, and they all took her word over mine. Its total bullshit. Its not true though. I never touched her."

Roxanne was shocked to hear this, taking a minute to process it. "...I cant believe anyone would frame the shield hero like that. In all the stories my parents told me, the shield hero was the kindest person in the world. He was especially kind to demi-humans, always doing so much for us."

I didn't expect her to believe me so quickly, and to at least ask me if it was true or not, but it made me feel good hearing that she took my word right away. "So the shield hero was a hero to demi-humans. No wonder you were willing to trust me so quickly. Does that mean you believe that I'm innocent Roxanne?"

She smiles at me again, nodding, calming herself back down. "Of course I do. You might be a different shield hero then the one my parents told me about, but Ill always put my faith in the one who carries that shield. Plus, you don't really strike me as the type of person who'd rape anybody lord Damian. In fact, if I had to guess, Id say you're still a virgin. If you weren't, no doubt you would've used my slave crest to order me to do something dirty or perverted by now, or at the very least you wouldn't have waited outside while I was washing myself."

I flinched upon hearing the word "virgin", then my face turned bright red, having been called that many times by my sister back home. "...Well...Okay yeah, I am. In fact, I have little to no experience with girls, but what about you?"

It was Roxanne's turn to flinch and blush, losing her smile, as she glanced away from me slightly. "I ummm...I've never had much experience with men either, but I'm saving myself for the right person, okay?"

I nodded, understanding where she was coming from very well. I found it hard to believe that she'd never had a boyfriend though, given how attractive she was. "I see...Well, if nothing else, I'm glad you believe me Roxanne. Thanks. Anyway, why don't we change the subject? I know you're only level one, but what kinds of powers and abilities do you have?"

We both took a deep breath, calming ourselves down before turning back towards each other, as she began telling me about her special abilities. "Like the slave trader said, we kitsune are masters of light, dark, and fire magic, and our specialty is illusions. However, since I'm still only level one, I cant do anything too impressive. I can only make a small fireball, and create small illusions that only last a few seconds." Roxanne explained to me, then her eyes started to glow a bit. She then made a small blue flame appear in the palm of her hand, and created an illusion that made it look like there was a bird perched on her other arm, but the flame and the bird both vanished after about five seconds.

Never the less, I was still very impressive by this, knowing that those powers would come in very handy once she could use them to their full potential. "That's still way better then anything I've got right now. Aside form my insanely high defense, all I can do is increase the quality of herbs."

"Don't worry lord Damian. Like you said, we'll both get stronger together." Roxanne got her smile back, still very happy to be teamed up with the shield hero, but that smile would vanish once more after my next question.

"Yeah, that's right. Thanks again Roxanne. Now, last question, and I hope this isn't too personal. Why do you hate humans so much? I know demi-humans are discriminated against in this kingdom, but that cant be all there is to it, right?" I asked Roxanne in a more gentle tone, guessing that this is probably a sensitive topic for her.

It took Roxanne a moment to respond, as all the memories of a particular day were still fresh in her mind. She looked down, but remained calm as she answered me. "...It happened on the day of the first wave of catastrophe. It wasn't too long ago, but Id always held at least a little resentment and hatred towards the humans before this happened. Anyway, before the first wave, I lived in a small village by the coast with my parents. It was a village of demi-humans, and we all lived happily there. But then the first wave came, and everything changed." She clenched her fists tightly, as she continued her story. "At first, we didn't think much of it. We thought the kingdom would send knights and adventurers to come help us, but no one ever came. They were all more concerned about keeping their fellow humans safe. Like we didn't matter at all."

Tears began to fall down from Roxanne's eyes, making me start to worry about her, but before I could say anything, she spoke up once again. "None of us had any battle experience, so we didn't stand a chance, as the monsters just kept coming. All we could do was run, though many of us failed to escape...My parents were among those that lost their lives. A huge and powerful monster was chasing us, and it would've gotten all of us, but my parents told me to run as fast as I could and not to look back. I didn't want to leave them, but I did. I was able to make it to the forest and escape, but my parents...They used what little illusion time they had to cover my escape. If only I was stronger...I could've saved them...Its all the human's fault! Damn it!" She yells, slamming her fist on the bed, with tears rolling down her face and onto her lap below.

I couldn't stand watching this anymore, so I got up from my chair, walked over, sat down next to her, and used my cloak to gently dry her tears. "Roxanne...I'm sorry."

Roxanne turned to me right away, slowly calming herself down, and sniffling a little before responding. "...Thank you lord Damian. My village is in ruins and abandoned now, and all the survivors were captured and sold as slaves, including myself. That's why, from that day on, I vowed to get stronger, and become the first ever demi-human warrior of this world. A warrior strong enough to free my fellow demi-humans from slavery, build a new place where we can all live in peace, and get my revenge on the humans responsible for turning their backs on us and putting us in chains. They all say demi-humans are worthless, unfit to be anything more then slaves, but Ill prove all of them wrong." She looked very serious and frustrated, tired of feeling powerless.

That's a look I knew all too well, as I sighed, pulling my cloak away from her. "Believe me Roxanne, I feel your pain. I really do. My parents are still alive, but they have nothing to do with why I hate humans as much as I do. Still, now that I'm here in this world, Ill probably never see my parents again anyway."

Roxanne calmed herself down a little, growing curious, so she decided to ask me about my human hatred. "Your turn lord Damian. Why do you hate humans so much?"

It had been a long time since Id told anyone this story, so I took a deep breath, knowing that it would take more then just a few words to tell it. "I know you don't know much about the world I came from Roxanne, but just bare with me. When I was a kid, I was a much different person. I was happy all the time, filled with life, and I had lots of friends. However, all of that changed when I moved on to middle school. Suddenly, my friends all changed so much that I barely recognized them. None of them wanted to spend time with me anymore, and I found myself completely alone. I tried to just carry on like nothing had changed, but my carefree attitude quickly made me that target of bullying. My classmates picked on me, called me names, and made fun of me just for being myself every single day."

Roxanne listened to me with her fox ears raised up, staying quiet until I finished, not wanting to interrupt me.

"Things were rough for a while. I tried getting help from my teachers, but their efforts did next to nothing. But then, near the end of middle school, I managed to make a friend. His name was Shawn, and he was the best friend Id ever had. We move on to high school together, and for a while, things got better, despite the never ending abuse of my classmates. I didn't realize it right away, but the pressures of everyday life were getting to me and Shawn. Neither of us were able to get girlfriends, we never got invited to parties or anything else, and the work load in high school was really killin us. I later found out that it was especially bad for Shawn. His father left him and his family, and his mother turned into an incredibly abusive bitch because of it. We were always there for each other though, no matter how bad things got, but then, on at the end of our third year of high school, Shawn faced another, particularly harsh rough patch, and his will to go on crumbled." I continued to tell my story, brining my hands together, clutching them tightly around each other before saying another word.

This made Roxanne start to worry about me again, as she began to wonder where my story would go from there.

"I was able to pass my third year of high school, but Shawn wasn't so lucky. He failed, and was told he had to repeat the entire year all over again, which made his mother very angry. She kicked him out of her house, forcing him to look for a place of his own. We tried to convince my parents to let him stay with us, but with six people and a bunch of animals already living in our house, they turned Shawn away. There was just no space for him at all. I didn't hear much from Shawn after that, but I always prayed to God that he was doin alright. I finally got my answer on the first day of my fourth and final year of high school...Shawn committed suicide. He walked to the end of a tall pier, then jumped down onto the rocks below. And just like that, I was alone again, for my entire final year of high school."

Roxanne brought one hand to her mouth when she'd heard this, unable to keep herself from gasping, and almost not believing what she had just heard me say. But before she could comment on this, I started speaking again.

"Once I heard what happened, I was devastated. Shawn wasn't the first person from my world to buckle under the pressures of life and end his own, but what did the humans do about it? Nothing. So many students in high school kill themselves, but nobody cares or does anything about it. The humans make no effort to better themselves, or their corrupt systems, and that really pissed me off, every damn day. I did manage to graduate from high school, but things didn't get any better after that. I tried college, tried getting some jobs, but time after time humans and their idiotic ways tormented me and forced me out. That's also about the time that I realized that God wasn't any better then the humans he'd created. People prayed to him all the time, myself included, but nothing good ever came of it. God did absolutely nothing, just like the humans. So I ended up turning my faith over to the demons, and now I follow and support my fellow demon lord Lucifer. Frankly, me and Lucifer have a lot in common. Lucifer was cast out by heaven, and became a demon lord. Just like how I was cast out by humanity, and joined the underworld too."

"The humans in this world are no better then the humans in my world. All they care about is themselves, and they don't care who they step on to keep on living their peaceful, carefree lives. But now, in this new world, I've been given a new chance, and the power to finally do something about all of that. With this shield, you Roxanne, and the future friends and allies we'll make, we, the ones the humans have looked down upon for years, will tear them off their pedestals." I finally finished my story, still clenching my hands tightly together, enough to make my arms shake a little. Also, during the last few sentences of my story, the green gemstone in my shield turned red for a moment, but neither me or Roxanne noticed. I was too focused on my story and the memories surging through my head, and Roxanne was too focused on me, her concern for me growing with every word from my mouth.

Seeing that I was finally finished with my story, Roxanne placed her hands over mine, trying to calm me down. "Lord Damian, please calm down. I don't like seeing you like this."

Her touch, as well as her voice, calmed me down slowly but surely, as I let out a deep breath, and turned to face her. "...Sorry Roxanne. I didn't mean to worry you. I just got a little carried away for a minute there."

"Its fine. I think we both got a little carried away. Still, it was kind of nice getting to share all of that with someone who understands. It kind of makes me feel like a weight has been lifted off of my heart and soul." Roxanne said to me in a gentle, understanding tone, letting go of my hands and smiling at me once more.

I thought about it for a second, and realized she was right. I did feel a lot better after letting that all out, and her level of understanding definitely helped a lot too. So I nodded at her, smiling right back. "Yeah, I feel the same. Thanks for listening Roxanne. It means a lot." Unable to help myself, I brought one hand up, and started petting the top of her head.

My sudden show of appreciation made Roxanne blush again, as she glanced away from me, and her tail started swaying from side to side like it did earlier. "...Yes. Thank you as well lord Damian."

I kept on petting her head, seeing that she was enjoying it, and found myself laughing a bit. "Ya know Roxanne, you really are cute."

Those words made Roxanne flinch, as her whole face turned almost as red as her eyes, and she looked at me with shock and disbelief. "C-C-Cute?...Did you just call me cute?"

Her reaction only made me laugh some more, which quickly turned into a smirk, as I pulled my hand away from her head and decided to mess with her a little bit. "You heard me. It sounds like you enjoyed it too. What happened to "flattery will get you no where"?"

Roxanne continued to blush, shooting me a glare too. She could see that I was messing with her, but rather then play along, she huffed, folded her arms, turned away from me, and smacked me in the face with her tail in doing so. "You really are a demon, you know that?"

I flinched when her tail hit me, but still got a few more laughs in. "So I've been told, and I'm a demon lord, thank you. Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Lets get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll buy you some gear, then get in as much grinding as we can. You can have the bed. Ill sleep on the floor." I told her as I stood up, getting myself ready for bed.

Roxanne took a few minutes to calm herself down, then turned to me, a bit surprised that I was letting her have the bed. "Are you sure, lord Damian? I'm sure we'll need our strength for tomorrow."

"Ill be fine Roxanne, but thanks for asking. My balloon friends make surprisingly good pillows." Id slept on the ground outside several times since coming to this world, and this wasn't much different. But before going to bed, I made sure to get my workout routine in.

As soon as I started working out, Roxanne looked at me with intrigue, and ended up joining in, which I enjoyed. After a good workout, I blew out the candle in the room and made myself as comfortable as I could on the floor, and Roxanne did the same on the bed. We were both able to get to sleep shortly after that.

X

Despite my sleeping arrangements, I still managed to somehow get a good night's rest, waking up the following morning with a yawn and a stretch. Roxanne woke up a little after I did, doing the same, while I was getting dressed and ready for the day. After getting some breakfast, the two of us left the inn, paying a visit to an accessories shop first. I figured Roxanne would want some necessities for everyday life, such as a hair brush, a pair of scissors, some nail clippers, a nail file, a toothbrush, a few other little things, and a bag of her own to carry all of her belongings in. After that was taken care of, it was time to get her some gear, and with out limited funds, only one place came to mind.

After a short walk, I entered through the front door of Erhard's shop, with Roxanne following close behind me, looking around once we were inside.

Upon hearing someone enter his shop, Erhard turned to the front of his shop with a smile on his face. "Welcome." He looked surprised to see me of all people, then quickly took notice of Roxanne. "What's with the girl, kid?"

"First of all, she has a name. Roxanne. She's a kitsune demi-human, as well as my first friend and party member. Roxanne, this is Erhard. As far as humans go, he's okay, I guess." I did the introductions, while Roxanne stayed behind me a bit.

"Gee, thanks kid." Erhard said to me in a sarcastic tone, then smiled at Roxanne. "Well, you're quite a looker, aren't you? Its nice to meet you. How'd someone like yourself end up with the shield hero?"

Roxanne came out of hiding, looking at the man before responding, and it was clear from her tone that she wasn't as interested in meeting him as he was about meeting her. "If lord Damian says that you're okay, then likewise. And sorry, but that's none of your business."

Erhard lost his smile again, turning back to me after that. "So, what brings you here today?"

"We need some gear and a weapon for her, and our funds are kinda limited right now, so if we end up goin over, we'll have to pay ya back later." I answered him, knowing that me and Roxanne would have to find a way to make some serious coin after this.

Erhard turned his attention back to Roxanne, looking her over and doing some thinking. "No problem. I can hook you up with some nice, light gear, and you can pay me back when you can."

Me and Roxanne both thanked him for his help, then he gave her some gear to try on. She took it from him, then went to the changing room in the back to try it on, while me and Erhard waited patiently for her in the front of the shop.

It took Roxanne about twenty minutes to change into her new gear, and when she finally did, she exited the changing room, and walked out to show us. "Okay, I'm done." Roxanne was now dressed in an outfit that was made for battle, but was still light, comfortable, and easy to move around in. The outfit consisted of a long sleeved, white top, with a matching skirt, both made from a fabric that Erhard said was very durable and good at taking hits. She also had on some black leather armor that covered her torso, some white gloves, and a pair of white, knee high boots, with armor at the knees. She also had a white belt around her waist, which she used to carry the sword Erhard gave her along with the outfit. It wasn't anything fancy, just an iron sword, but Erhard assured us that it would get the job done. Her tail wasn't restricted by the outfit at all, still swaying freely behind her.

I smiled when I saw her, then reached under my cloak. "It suits you Roxanne. And now that you have a sword, its time for a test." My smile changed into a grin, as I pulled out one of the balloon monsters from under my cloak, holding it out in front of me. "Draw your sword, and slay this monster."

Seeing this, Roxanne got a grin of her own, drawing her sword right away. "I've been waiting over ten years for this. You're mine." Yelling out a battle cry, she charged right for the monster in my grasp, and stabbed it with her sword, popping it with just a single thrust.

I was more then pleased with this result, but was then surprised when both me and Roxanne gained experience points from it. "Huh? I gained experience points too?"

"Probably because you set her as a companion. If you do that with every member of your party, then you'll gain experience for every monster they kill." Erhard was nice enough to elaborate on this for me, and his words got me grinning once again.

"That's perfect! That's exactly what a shielder like me needs." I turned back to Roxanne with a smile on my face, as she put her sword back in its sheath. "Starting today, I'm the shield, and you're the sword Roxanne. You'll handle slaying monsters, and Ill make sure you stay safe while doing so. Sound like a plan?"

Roxanne nodded at me, getting a smile of her own, already looking ready to slay lots more monsters. "Yes. I've got your back lord Damian. I wont let you down."

I nodded back at her, knowing that she wouldn't. I then paid Erhard for her gear and her sword. Fortunately, I still had some money left afterward, but my coin pouch was almost completely empty by this point. _"Damn. Paying for Roxanne really drained our funds, but if ya ask me, it was more then worth it. Still, we gotta find a way to make some money, and fast."_

Erhard counted up the coins I gave him, then looked at me after he was done. "Ya know, I almost cant believe it. I didn't think you were even capable of being friendly with anyone, but you two already seem like the best of friends."

"That's because Roxanne is a demi-human, not a human, so her presence doesn't make me sick to my stomach." I told him, losing my smile, and not holding anything back in my explanation. I then began to pick up the pieces of the orange balloon monster that Roxanne just slayed up off of the ground, knowing that we could sell them later. They wouldn't get us much, but money was money.

Erhard responded by looking at me with half open eyes, as my explanation stung him a bit. "Is that how you feel about me too then?"

"Meh. Not really. Maybe at first, but not anymore. Like I told Roxanne, as far as humans go, you're not that bad actually. Anyway, we'll see ya next time we wanna upgrade our gear. Thanks Erhard." I waved goodbye to him, as did Roxanne, thanking him as well, then the two of us left his shop.

Erhard sighed after we were gone, leaning on his counter with one arm holding his head up. "One thing's for sure. With those two around, this kingdom is gonna go through some serious changes in the near future." He said to himself, not sure if those changes would end up being good or bad though.

X

Me and Roxanne headed to the fields and forest outside the town after that, and spent most of the day battling any monsters we could find. It was mostly just different types of balloon and mush monsters, but they still worked to help us gain a few levels, with Roxanne cutting or stabbing each and every one of them to death with ease, and me blocking every last attack that came our way. When the sun started to set, we decided to take a break, as we set up a small base camp for ourselves next to a small, gentle flowing river. Thanks to all my fishing back home, I was able to easily catch us some fish to eat, using a rod made from a stick and some string, and Roxanne used her fire magic to get a camp fire going, which we used to cook said fish. All of our hard work had really paid off too. I grew to level five, Roxanne grew to level four, and I was able to unlock several new shields by absorbing some materials from the monsters we slayed, as well as a few other miscellaneous items and materials we found laying around the forest.

Some of the shields Id managed to unlock were the Mush Shield, Green Mush Shield, and Blue Mush Shield. My status screen informed me that the Blue Mush Shield came with some blending abilities, so I quickly equipped it, grabbed some materials, and gave it a try. _"I've never made any medicines before, but here goes nothin I guess." _I got started, and though it was my first time making medicine in my life, it felt right to me somehow. I shrugged, and kept blending my materials together, chalking it up to the skill Id just obtained.

All of the fish were ready to eat several minutes after that, so Roxanne grabbed two of them, helping herself. After a few bites, she swallowed her food, then turned towards me, watching as I continued to make my medicine. "Lord Damian, we've been working hard all day. Please take a break and eat something. Your fish will burn if you don't eat them soon."

"Thanks Roxanne, I will. I just wanna get this done first. If this medicine I'm blending really works, we should be able to sell it for a lot of coin, which we could really use right now." I responded to her, never looking up from the medicine I was working on.

My loyal kitsune took another bite of her fish, swallowed it, then looked down at my medicine as well. "That's great, but how do we know if it actually works or not?"

"Well, neither of us is sick, but I guess tasting it a little couldn't hurt. Besides, I was outside all night the other night, and I doubt you got very much nutrients while you were in those chains. If nothing else, my status screen says this medicine should expel any lingering viruses in our bodies. Given how far behind the other heroes and their parties we are, we really cant afford to get sick right now." I explained to her, finishing up the medicine, then poured it into two small cups I made from some leaves.

Roxanne listened to me, then took a minute to think it over. "Hmmm...You make some good points lord Damian. So okay. I'm willing to try it if you are."

I put down my mixing tools, picked up the two cups, and handed one to Roxanne. "Alright then. Bottoms up."

Roxanne took her cup from me, then we both drank down the medicine in each of our cups. As soon as the medicine hit our tongues, the taste made us both shudder, but we stayed strong and drank every last drop. We both finished around the same time, pulling our leaf cups away from our mouths, and taking some very deep breaths. "Geez...Are you sure you made it bitter enough? I still have my sense of taste." Roxanne asked me in a sarcastic tone, throwing in a little joke at the end.

"Hey, at least we know its good medicine. Good medicine is supposed to taste bitter. And ya know what else? I think I'm ready to start eating now." I grabbed my fish, and started eating, trying to get the bitter taste of the medicine out of my mouth.

Roxanne followed my lead, going back to eating her own fish, trying her very best to do the same.

Still, I was glad we had something that we could sell for a decent amount of coins, but I knew Id have to make more. So after we finished eating, and working out after that, I went back to blending medicine, while Roxanne curled up in her sleeping bag, falling asleep fairly quickly, as the sky grew dark over the forest. We'd purchased two sleeping bags in town beforehand, knowing that we'd be camping out tonight, and possibly many nights after this one.

The fire continued to burn into the later hours of the night, but I was far too focused on medicine making to notice how much time had gone by.

However, my focus was soon broken, as Roxanne quickly sat up from her sleeping bag without warning. She woke up, and started yelling, covered in sweat, with tears in her eyes. "Mother! Father! You cant do this!"

This very sudden turn of events made me flinch and jump slightly, as I quickly turned to Roxanne, listening to her. It was clear as day that she had a nightmare, so I moved over to her, knelt down in front of her, placed my hands on her shoulders, and started shaking her a little, trying to snap her out of it. "Roxanne! Its okay! It was just a bad dream!"

My words get through to her, as she gasps, snaps out of it, then slowly looks down, taking a few deep breaths. "...No...It wasn't just a bad dream...It was my memories...of the day my parents died." She may have stopped panicking, but the tears were still coming.

All of this really made me start to worry about her, as I began to wonder if she'd been tormented by those memories ever since that day. Thinking fast, only one thing came to mind. I knew it would make us both mildly uncomfortable, but I couldn't just leave her like this for the rest of the night. "Roxanne, please excuse me for what I'm about to do." With a small blush present on my face, I pulled her into a hug, lightly stroking her back, hoping this would help her.

Roxanne was very surprised by this, a small blush appearing on her face as well, but she didn't protest or object at all. In fact, she found herself slowly calming down, feeling safe in my arms, as a smile slowly appeared on her face. "Lord Damian...thank you."

I smiled too when I heard this from her, keeping my hold on her for another minute before letting go, just wanting to make absolutely sure that she would be okay. After I let her go, Roxanne dried her tears, then laid back down, falling back asleep within minutes. I stayed awake a little while longer though. Partly to blend more medicines, and partly to make sure Roxanne didn't have another nightmare. Eventually, I turned in myself, feeling like I got a good amount of work done for one night.

X

The following morning, me and Roxanne woke up feeling rested and ready for action, as the sun shinned brightly over the land from above. But before fighting anymore monsters, me and Roxanne headed back into town to sell the medicines Id made, and get some breakfast as well.

When we arrived at the potions shop, the owner was once again impressed with the items Id brought to sell to him, especially since last night was my first time ever making medicine in my life. I asked him which would sell for more, the herbs or the medicine, and he told me that after the first wave, medicine has been flying off the shelves. He paid me four silver coins for my medicine, and was even nice enough to give me some tools for making it that he didn't use.

Me and Roxanne left his shop after that, and started walking down the road, but Roxanne suddenly stopped without warning, her eyes drawn to one of the food stands in the shopping district. I noticed this, stopping too, then walked over to Roxanne and followed her gave to a stand that was selling some kind of pastry that I didn't recognize. They looked like donuts, with pink colored frosting or something on top, and the aroma drifting through the air was definitely holding Roxanne's attention, as I also noticed her sniffing in the stand's direction.

Id be an idiot if I didn't see that she clearly wanted one, so without even asking her, I walked over to the stand, bought one, and walked back over to Roxanne, handing it to her. "Here. You wanted one, right?"

Roxanne looked at me, then at the treat I brought her, as her tail started wagging rapidly without her realizing it. "Thank you so much lord Damian!" She said with a big smile on her face, before accepting the treat from me, and started to happily eat it.

"After all the hard work you put in yesterday, you've earned it Roxanne. So enjoy." I said to her with another smile on my face, glad that she was happy. I ended up losing my smile about a minute later though, in favor of a more curious facial expression, as a thought suddenly crossed my mind. "By the way Roxanne, I thought albinos had sensitive skin. So if ya don't mind my asking, how is it that you can stand outside in bright sunlight without any cover?"

The albino kitsune swallowed a mouthful of her donut, then lost her smile too, and gave me an answer. "I don't mind at all lord Damian. While it is true that albinos like myself have very sensitive skin, I also have an affinity for fire magic, remember? Thanks to that, I've never really had a problem with sunlight, or cold for that matter, in my entire life. Still, if the sunlight ever gets really harsh, I may need some kind of cover. I do still have my limits." She explained to me, then took another bite of her donut, getting her smile back immediately after that.

I nodded at her explanation, making sure to keep all of that in mind, then got my smile back as well. "Ah, I see. That makes sense. Having an affinity for fire magic would make someone more resistant to heat, even if only a little. Be sure to tell me if the sunlight ever bothers you at all though, okay Roxanne?"

Roxanne gave me a smile and nod, but didn't speak, as her mouth was still filled with donut. I didn't mind though, as the two of us continued to walk down the street together, side by side.

From there, we got ourselves a room at one of the inns in town. I had to use my balloon friends again to make it happen, but it wasn't too much of a hassle. The two of us spent the rest of the day inside, only leaving our room to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as a jog around town. I spent the rest of the time making as much medicine as I could, while Roxanne used the scissors and brush we bought yesterday to groom the hair on her head and on her tail, also using the nail file and clippers to clean up her finger and toe nails. Then after our usual nightly work out session, we both got to sleep in our own beds, planning to head back into the forest tomorrow.

X

After waking up and grabbing a bite to eat, me and Roxanne headed back to the potion's shop to sell all the medicines Id made. Then, after pocketing the coins, we headed right back out into the wilderness, eager to raise our levels as much as we could.

At first, it was just balloons and mushes as usual, but when we went deeper into the forest, we came across something new. A rabbit type monster. It looked harmless enough, but when it jumped at Roxanne, I quickly got out in front of her, blocking the monster's path. The rabbit sank its teeth into my arm, and I called out to Roxanne. "Hey Roxanne, I could use a hand here!"

Roxanne looked at the monster, but seemed hesitant for some reason, unable to take even a single step forward. "I...I've never killed anything like this before. Its not like the monsters we've fought up to now. It'll bleed. Its alive."

I could tell that she didn't have any trouble taking the lives of so many balloons and mushes, since they didn't have blood to spill, but Roxanne hadn't even held a sword before a few days ago, and killing your first living creature can be hard. I went through a similar experience when I first started fishing, but this rabbit's bite was starting to hurt, so I really needed her help now. "You said you wanted to be a warrior, right Roxanne? Well this is what warriors do! I know how hard it is to take the life of another living creature, but it gets easier, especially if you wield your sword for the right reasons! Your a good person Roxanne, that's why we have to be ready for the next wave! We cant die! This world is doomed without people like us to fight for it! I'm not saying I wanna start fighting to protect the humans, but its still my job to fight the waves of catastrophe, and I'm going to, for the sake of my dreams! Even if none of the humans thank me for it! I cant do it on my own though Roxanne! I need you! I haven't been able to say this to anyone for years, but please don't let me down!" For the first time in years, I put all of my passion into my words, meaning every word of it, hoping that it would be enough to inspire Roxanne to take action.

Roxanne looked into my eyes, seeing that I was serious, and filled with determination. Suddenly, she felt something welling up inside herself. She didn't know what it was at first, but it made her grip the handle of her sword tighter, and speak with the same level of passion and determination as I just did. "I wont! Ill never let you down, lord Damian! Even if the humans reject us, we'll fight the waves and everything else that comes our way together!" As she yells all of this out, she charges forward, and stabs the rabbit right between its eyes, killing it, as its blood sprayed from the wound.

Me and Roxanne took a few deep breaths, a little surprised we got so worked up over such a small monster, but then we smiled at each other, both of us feeling happy that we did.

I fed a piece of the rabbit's meat to my shield, then pulled out my map of the kingdom. After looking it over for about two minutes, me and Roxanne decided to head for a place called Lute Village. We hoped we could find some stronger monsters to fight, and maybe some rarer items to sell there. So after cleaning the rabbit blood off of ourselves, and packing up the rabbit pelt, we started following the map, heading for Lute Village.

X

We stopped to fight a few more monsters along the way, but we soon arrived in Lute Village, and quickly found a man running a small shop on the side of the road. I offered him the rabbit pelt we just got, but he only gave me two silvers for it. That's when it finally started to sink in that me and Roxanne would never make enough money to live on this way, especially when we one day add more demi-humans to our party. So, feeling desperate, I decided to ask the man if he knew of any ways to make a lot of cash in a short amount of time in the area.

We seemed to be in luck, as the man gave us an answer almost right away. "Well, the mines just outside of town are filled with ore and even some rare jewels, but ever since the first wave, its become home to some dangerous monsters. No one wants to go anywhere near the mines these days. I'm not sure what our summoned heroes are doing, but if you ask me, it isn't much."

After hearing the man say all of this to me, images of Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki appeared in my head, making my expression turn sour. _"Urgh...What the hell have you three idiots been doing all this time anyway?" _I thought to myself, then thanked the man for the information. Given our current situation, me and Roxanne didn't have much of a choice, so we turned, and started heading to the mines. Besides, thinking about how much experience we'd gain from defeated the dangerous monsters inside, as well as the possible bounty of rare items we could find inside had me excited.

X

We found the entrance to the mine without much trouble, as well as an old shed next to the entrance. It looked like it hadn't been used in quite some time, so we decided to take a look inside. There wasn't much to be found, but I did find a few things to feed to my shield. Such as a piece of rope, an old pickaxe, and a whetstone. These items made three new shields appear on my upgrade tree. The Rope Shield, Pickaxe Shield, and Sharpening Shield. My status screen also informed me of some new skills that came with these shields. Mining skill, mineral identification, and something I didn't recognize, called Air Strike Shield.

This intrigued me, so before heading into the mine, I decided to give it a try, holding out my shield, and switching to my new Rope Shield. "Air Strike Shield!" As soon as I called it out, my shield started glowing, and another, bigger shield appeared in front of me. It was floating in mid-air, and looked to be made of air magic or something itself. What ever it was, it made me grin, as I knew it would come in handy. "Sweet!" The Air Strike Shield vanished after a few more seconds, then I grabbed another pickaxe, knowing we'd be needing it to mine for ore and other gemstones.

Roxanne was watching me the whole time, a smile present on her face. She was very happy to see that I was getting stronger with every new item or material I fed to my shield, and it made her want to work that much harder so I wouldn't leave her behind, level and skill wise. She then used her fire magic to make us a torch, and we headed into the dark, abandoned tunnels of the mine.

As we walked through the mine, looking for rare items and other treasures, we made sure to keep our wits about us. "Listen Roxanne, as much as Id love to take down one of these dangerous monsters, gain massive experience points, and some good fodder for my shield, if things get too dangerous we should fall back. We'll try to fight any monsters that appear before that of course, but if things get too rough we'll retreat and come back later, okay?"

Roxanne carries the torch, while I carry our pickaxe, nodding at me. "You don't need to tell me twice, lord Damian. If what that man said is true and no one's been in her since the first wave, there's sure to be all kinds of rare, untouched items here, but Id rather not lose my life trying to get them."

I nod back to her, refusing to let either of us die in a place like this, just for a few rare items. For the time being, the mine was quiet, and the coast was clear, so we kept going, heading into the mine deeper and deeper. We were soon greeted with a light at the end of the tunnel, following it, and entering a very big and open area of the mine, filled with the ore that the man back in Lute Village mentioned. I switched to my Pickaxe Shield, gripping the handle of the pickaxe I brought alone, then got right to work, trying to break off as much of the ore as I could.

While I was busy mining, Roxanne took a seat on some rocks, keeping her eyes and ears open the entire time. She didn't see or hear any monsters right away, but she did see some footprints on the floor of the cave. She narrowed her eyes at these footprints, as they seemed slightly familiar to her somehow.

Eventually I was able to break off some decent sized chunks of ore, putting all but one small piece of the ore into my bag. I fed the small piece of ore to my shield instead, and unlocked the Light Metal Shield, which gave me another boost to my defense. This, along with all the ore Id collected so far made me grin once more. "Pay dirt. This should get us back on our feet and then some. We might even be able to buy you a better sword. How does that sound Roxanne?" I asked her, but then became confused, not getting an answer from her. "Roxanne?" I turned to her, wondering what was wrong, and was very surprised by what I saw.

Roxanne was back on her feet, gritting her teeth, growling slightly, and glaring a very intense glare towards the opening to another cave.

Id never seen Roxanne look so angry before, and wondered what could be causing it, so I turned in the direction she was glaring, and was surprised again by what I saw emerging from the darkness. It was a fairly large, two headed dog monster, with glowing red eyes. The monster growled right back at Roxanne, and I could see that it was level fifteen, which didn't look good for us. _"Level fifteen, huh? That's ten levels higher then me, and eleven levels higher then Roxanne." _I thought to myself, trying to come up with a plan.

But it seemed Roxanne had other plans, as she pulled out her sword, gripping the handle very tightly. "Dog monster...ILL KILL YOU!" She yelled out, her voice bursting with rage, as she charged straight for the monster, not waiting for me at all.

Naturally, this surprised me, and made me start to worry very much. "Roxanne! What are you doing?! Don't just rush in like that! Your gonna get yourself killed!"

My warnings fell on deaf ears, as Roxanne continued to charge at the monster, and it charged right back at her, baring its fangs.

I knew that this wouldn't end well, so I did the only thing I could think of, switching to my Rope Shield. "Air Strike Shield!" I used my new skill, making my Air Strike Shield appear right between Roxanne and the monster, causing them both to run into it instead of each other. I used this opportunity to run over to Roxanne, moving out in front of her, keeping my shield raised and my eyes on the monster.

Roxanne stumbled a bit after hitting my Air Strike Shield, but she finally notices me after she recovers, shooting me a glare after that. "What are you doing lord Damian?! Don't get in my way! I have to kill this monster!"

"What I've always done! Making sure that you stay safe in battle! Your the one whose not thinking clearly, so just shut up and calm down for a second!" I responded to her yelling with some yelling of my own, never taking my eyes off the monster even for a second.

Roxanne did as I said, and was able to calm down slightly, but she was still burning with rage. "...That monster...It looks almost exactly like the monster that killed my parents. Please lord Damian! I have to kill this monster!"

Roxanne's angry reaction made perfect sense to me after Id heard her say that, and I could tell that retreat was definitely not an option for her at this point. As such, there was only one thing to do. "We will Roxanne. But this thing is way higher leveled then us. If we don't play it smart, we'll die. My Air Strike Shield will disappear after just a few more seconds. When that happens, shoot one of its heads with a fireball."

Roxanne nodded, aiming one of her hands at the monster's heads, preparing herself to strike.

A split second later, my Air Strike Shield vanished, and the monster attacked me. I blocked one of its heads with my shield, but the other one sank its teeth into my shoulder, making me wince hard and gasp in pain. "Gah! Roxanne!"

"Take this!" Gathering all the magic power she could, Roxanne shot a single, blue colored fireball at the monster's right head, the head that was biting my shoulder. The attack hit its mark, and the dog monster let go of me instantly, stumbling backwards and howling out in pain.

Fighting through the pain, I quickly switched to my Light Metal Shield, and ran around to the monster's right side while it was distracted by the flames. Using all my strength, I then charged straight at the monster, slamming my shield into the right side of its body as hard as I could. My efforts paid off, as the monster ended up falling onto its left side. "Finish it off now Roxanne!"

Roxanne's battle cry echoed through the cave, as she ran straight for the fallen monster with her sword at the ready. She jumped up once she reached the monster, and with both hands on the handle of her sword, stabbed the blade into the monster's chest, just below the base of its necks. She then twisted the blade while it was inside the monster's flesh, causing more blood to gush from the wound. The monster tried its best to resist, but it soon stopped fighting altogether, laying dead several seconds later.

Me and Roxanne took several deep breaths once we both realized that the battle was over, and we could both relax. I took out a potion and drank it all down to heal my wound, and Roxanne pulled her sword out of the monster's dead body, cleaning the blood off of it before putting it back into its sheath.

After finishing the potion, I tried moving my shoulder around. It still hurt, but not nearly as much as a moment ago. I then turned my attention to Roxanne, as she was currently standing with her back to me. "Well, you certainly switched gears there. Earlier today you were reluctant to kill another living thing, and now look what you did." I glanced at the fallen dog monster, then walked over to it, grabbing any piece of its flesh that I could and feeding it to my shield. Once I did, I unlocked yet another new shield. The Two-Headed Black Dog Shield. _"Man, I am on a roll today. Its all thanks to you Roxanne." _I thought to myself, turning back to her, and smiling.

However, Roxanne appears far less pleased then I am, as she slowly turns to face me, looking like she'd done something very wrong and felt very bad about it. "I know. This might not be the monster that killed my parents, but...I just couldn't allow it to keep on living. But my reckless actions caused you to get hurt. Its my fault. I'm so sorry, lord Damian. Please forgive me."

I kept smiling at her, then walked over to her, and gently petted the top of her head.

Roxanne was surprised by this, quickly turning back to me with confusion in her eyes.

"I'm okay Roxanne. We're fighting to make our ambitions a reality. Stuff like this is an occupational hazard. We'll face way stronger opponents then that mutt, but we'll overcome them, just like we overcame this one. I might not be able to see into the future, but now that I'm here in this world, I feel more alive then I ever have before. So, to put this bluntly, this world is gonna have to throw something far worse then some dog monster at me to make me quit." My smile never fading, I spoke to Roxanne with strength, confidence, and life filling my voice.

Roxanne listened to my every word, never taking her eyes off of me, waiting for me to pull my hand away from her head before responding. "If you really mean that, then Ill stand by you through all of it, lord Damian. I've waited my whole life for this chance, and I'm not going to let it go to waste. I promise, nothing like this will ever happen again as long as I can help it. I give you my word as a warrior, and as your sword, lord Damian." She looks into my eyes, matching my look perfectly, smiling too.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank you Roxanne. Now, as much as Id love to head back to the village and grab a bite to eat, how about we take a look deeper inside this mine? No one's been in here for a while, and I have a feeling that if we keep going, we'll find something really great." I knew we might run into more monsters down here, but the thought of finding some rare and powerful item made me want to push on.

"Where you go, Ill follow. And this time, I wont let myself be consumed by rage." Roxanne told me, and with that, we grabbed our pickaxe and torch, then headed even further inside the mine.

We walked for what felt like hours, and were lucky enough not to encounter anything worse then the dog monster we defeated, but we were eventually forced to stop, coming to a very dark, very deep looking chasm. Deciding to test it, I kicked a rock down into it, and it turned out to be not as deep as it looked.

Then, as another test, Roxanne shot a small fireball down into it, hoping to give us some light. And boy did she. The second the fireball got down far enough, the entire chasm gave off a bright, blinding light, making me and Roxanne cover our eyes immediately, taking a few steps backwards.

The light faded away several seconds later, and I switched to my Rope Shield, wanting to get a closer look. Me and Roxanne headed down into the chasm, and once we were on solid ground, Roxanne made another fireball in her hand. Right after she did, the same thing happened again, but we saw it coming this time, having braced ourselves for it. We then found the cause of all this light, and it was revealed to be some kind of super reflective crystal. Even the smallest light bounced from one crystal to the next, lighting up the entire chasm.

"Woah! What kind of crystals are these?" Roxanne asked with awe in her voice, taking a few steps towards the shinning rocks, able to see her reflection in each and every one of them perfectly. "Its like looking into dozens of mirrors at the same time."

While she did this, I grinned, switching to my Pickaxe Shield, and started hammering away at these crystals. "I'm not sure, but their definitely interesting, and Ill bet their valuable too. I cant wait to see the kind of shield Ill get from these things." I broke off piece after piece of these crystals with ease. It was like striking a huge piece of glass. It took less then two minutes for me to break off what I felt would be enough to sell, then me and Roxanne gathered up every shard we saw.

"These crystals are beautiful, but they seem pretty flimsy if you ask me. Are you sure you want to try making a new shield out of them, lord Damian?" Roxanne asked me as we picked up the various shards and put them into my bag, looking and sounding a little unsure.

"Every shield has its uses Roxanne. Besides, its not like it could hurt, right? So lets see." I excitedly fed several shards of this crystal to my shield, and they did indeed unlock a new shield for me. This one was known as the Mirror Shield, and my status screen told me that it could reflect any non-physical light or energy based magic attacks back at the user, but it also warned me that its limits were based solely on my own limits. Despite this warning, my grin got bigger, as I knew a shield like this one would definitely come in handy. "Now that's what I'm talkin about! Mirror Shield!" I switched to my newest shield, and it gave off a bright glow, just like the crystal it came from. The shield was shaped like a classic knight's shield, much like my original legendary shield, but the Mirror Shield was about double the size of my legendary shield, with silver colored metal around the edges, and a big mirror filling the middle, with the green gemstone in the center of course.

Roxanne looked into my new shield, seeing her reflection in it as well, smiling at herself. "Well, its really pretty, Ill give it that much." She giggled a little, making a joke.

I found myself laughing a bit too, but it was mostly out of joy, as I was very happy to have a shield like this one. _"I always did really liked the mirror shields from the Legend of Zelda games." _After admiring my new shield for another minute, I switched back to my Rope Shield, and me and Roxanne climbed out of the chasm.

After that, we decided to call it a day, and make our way out of the mine. It had been a very productive day for us, and despite the danger, we were both happy with the way things turned out. Not just with this trip to the mine, but with everything else as well. Our adventures together had only just begun, and neither of us could wait to see what would happen for us next.

**A lot of ups and downs here, huh? So its all out in the open now, the reasons for Damian's hatred of humans I mean. But it seems he's found a real comrade and friend in Roxanne. And how about that little surprise at the end? Of course, I don't own the Legend of Zelda or anything affiliated with it. I just always really liked the mirror shields from each game, and thought it would be a cool shield for Damian to have. I've got several other shields in mind for him to receive at later points in the story, but you'll all just have to wait and see what they are for yourselves. Sorry, but I've always been kind of a tease.**

**Now then, time to explain myself, and answer some possible questions you might have.**

**First of all, the one I'm sure your all asking. Where is Raphtalia? Well, I know I'm probably going to get a lot of negative feedback for this, but here goes. Raphtalia will not be present in this story. Don't get the wrong idea. Its nothing against her. Personally, I think she's one of the best female anime protagonists there is. Its just that I wanted to take a different approach with my story, give Damian some new and original party members of his own, instead of just copying Naofumi's. That's why Filo wont be present in this story either, but its the same deal as Raphtalia. I like her, but I wanted to give Damian his own party members instead.**

**Honestly, I'm expecting to lose some favs and follows for this, but I've already created the OC's Damian will meet and add to his party at later points in the story, and I'm sticking with them. Hopefully, in time, if your nice enough to keep on reading my story after this, you'll come to love these new characters at least half as much as we all love Raphtalia and Filo. Also, fear not. Such things as the several times Motoyasu got kicked in the d*** will still be present in this story even without Filo, it'll just be a different character doing the kicking.**

**Next question. Why did Damian open up to Roxanne so quickly, especially when he's treated everyone else so coldly up to this point? Its simple. Because Roxanne isn't human. Despite everything the kingdom of Melromarc has just put him through, Damian is used to taking crap from humans, which is also why he didn't get all depressed like Naofumi did when it happened to him. Damian is actually a pretty nice guy when the person he'd talking to isn't a human. Over the course of the story, you'll notice this same thing time and time again. Damian treats demi-humans, and even sometimes monsters, with kindness and respect. But is always cold and aggressive, when the situation calls for it, with humans. Granted, he will occasionally meet some humans who he deems "Not so bad", and will make some sort of effort with them, but only after he feels they've earned it.**

**I think that's everything for now. Thank you all for reading my latest chapter, and hopefully you'll read the next one too. OverlordDracoLucifer, signing out!**


	5. Ch 4 - Undead and Alive

**Well, here we are once more ladies and gentleman! If you've kept reading my story up to this point, then I thank you very much for your support.**

**Also, let me just take this time to say how surprised I am. Honestly, I wasn't expecting my last chapter and my OC Roxanne to go over so well with so many of you out there. I mean no offense by saying this, but you all really surprised me there. I was expecting to lose some favs and follows for this, but I actually gained more then I ever thought I would. Granted, I'm not exactly sure if it was because of Roxanne herself, or if your all just enjoying the story so far, but either way, its a very pleasant and welcome surprise. So thank you all again! I'm so glad that so many of you seem to be enjoying the story so far.**

**Now, time for chapter 4! I do not own the Rising of the Shield Hero, or its characters. The only things I own are my OC's, Damian Abyss and Roxanne.**

Chapter 4 - Undead and Alive

Thanks to all the coin we got from selling all the ore and super reflective crystals we brought back with us from the mine, me and Roxanne were finally financially stable again, and the two of us have been able to easily afford sleeping at inns every night and three square meals a day, as well as the occasional snack from time to time. Its been a week since our battle in the mine, and since then, my shield has gained so many new skills that I've nearly lost track of them all. Me and Roxanne have gone out hunting monsters every day since, and we've been keeping up a strict workout routine every night too. All of our hard work has really been paying off as well. I've risen to level 16, and Roxanne is now level 18, and has grown her second tail as a result. It grew in right after she reached level 10, just like she said it would.

After Roxanne grew her second tail, I noticed that she got a major boost to her attack stat, which lead me to believe that each tail she grows gives her an extra boost to one of her stats. But until she reaches level 20, I have no way of knowing for sure. Unfortunately, despite our heightened levels, this world is always full of surprises, and not all of them are good. Like today, when a porcupine type monster appeared out of nowhere and attacked me, leaving one of its quills stuck in my arm. Roxanne was quick to chase after this monster through the tall grass, eager to get revenge for me, while I sat on a rock and pulled its quill out of my arm, feeding it to my shield. This gave me the Animal Needle Shield, which gave me another boost to some of my stats.

I then grabbed a potion from my bag, and drank it to ease the pain from the monster's quill. I quickly got back on my feet after that, hearing Roxanne call out to me, followed by the sounds of that same monster running right at me for a second time. This time would be much different though, as I switched to my recently acquired Pipe Shield, and turned to face the porcupine monster. "Shield Prison!" Before the monster knew what was happening, a large, sphere shaped prison made of shields and chains appeared all around it, trapping it inside.

"Nice catch lord Damian! Ill take over from here!" Roxanne yelled to me, running right at my Shield Prison with her sword in hand, ready to finish off the monster held inside.

I listened to her, and watched closely, waiting for the perfect moment to release my Shield Prison. Once Roxanne was close enough, I did just that. My spell vanished, and before the monster had any time to run or strike back, Roxanne pierced its body with her sword, killing it.

Roxanne had really come a long way since the mine. These days, she was killing monsters left and right. It was like all the fears and concerns she had about taking the lives of other living creatures had just vanished, and she still maintained her cute and caring nature. At least around me.

My dear kitsune pulled her sword out of the now dead monster's flesh, cleaning the blood off of it before putting it back into its sheath. She then picked up the dead monster, and brought it over to me with a smile on her face.

I smiled back at her right away, giving her the usual petting on top of her head for a job well done, which she really seemed to enjoy, as her two tails swayed from side to side while I did this. Despite all the money we made from the ore and crystals we sold, we always made sure to collect any items or materials we could from the monsters we killed. This had become a steady source of income for us, and with the next wave fast approaching, I decided that it was finally time for us to upgrade our gear.

X

After selling the materials we got from the porcupine monster, me and Roxanne headed straight to Erhard's shop. It was the only shop that came to either of our minds when we talked about upgrading our equipment on the way back to town.

As soon as we walked through the front door of his shop, Erhard gave us a very friendly greeting, looking and sounding happy to see us again. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I haven't seen you two in a while. What have you been up to lately?"

I had to admit, this blacksmith was starting to grow on me, as I found myself answering him in a more respectful tone, unlike when I spoke to any other humans. "Oh ya know. Fighting monsters, gaining new skills, and slowly but surely making our way closer to our ultimate goals. In other words, the usual."

"I finally grew my second tail, and I've gained better control over my fire and illusion magic. Nothing too impressive yet, but progress is progress." It was the same for Roxanne, as she smiled at him while she spoke without realizing it, showing him her new tail as well.

"Is that so? Not bad you two. You've really come a long way since the last time I saw you, but I see you still haven't made any moves on each other. You're both fine looking young people, and its just the two of you all the time, so when are you gonna take that next step?" Erhard asked us with a grin, just teasing us about that last part though.

Still, it was more then enough to make both me and Roxanne blush, as Roxanne quickly lost her smile, and both of us looked away from Erhard, as well as each other, feeling mildly nervous.

This reaction made Erhard start laughing, unable to hold it in. "Ahahahahahah! I guess I've got my answer. You two really are still just kids, aren't you?"

We both turned back to him after that, still blushing, but shooting him a pair of annoyed glares too. While Erhard was starting to grow on us, he was still a human, but we didn't let any of this get to us too much, as I walked over to the counter first, clearing my throat and regaining my composure. "Anyway, I got hurt during battle again today, so I think its about time I upgraded my armor. Roxanne could use a new weapon too. Something stronger then iron. The most we can pay is 180 silvers. Sound fair?"

Roxanne was quick to follow my lead, walking up to the counter with me, and regaining her composure just like I did. "While you're at it, do you think you could offer us some kind of discount? It may only be the two of us right now, but we're not made of money."

Erhard never lost his smile, and gave us a nod. "Of course. Anything for two of my best customers. First off, since your looking for armor, how about something like that?" He gestured to a set of full body armor against the wall, looking to be made of thick, tough steel.

Me and Roxanne turned to look at it, but started looking unsure right away. I then walked up to the armor, and gave the chest part a few good taps with one of my knuckles. "This armor is impressive, but it also looks like it would weigh me down too much."

"Not only that. It would also take away all of lord Damian's individuality." Roxanne added, not really liking the idea of my face being covered during battle, or at all.

"No problem. If you like, I can whip up something special that's made to order. If you don't mind me using the materials I have laying around, I can have something ready by tomorrow that I'm sure you'll be satisfied with." Erhard made me an offer, sounding pretty sure of himself.

His offer had me intrigued, as I took a minute to think it over, looking around at all the other armor sets he had on display in his shop just in case. "Hmmm...Very well. You've got yourself a deal." I grinned, feeling a little eager to see what he would come up with.

Meanwhile, Roxanne was busy looking through Erhard's swords, trying to find one she liked. She tried a few of them out, but none of them caught her eye, until she drew a sword with a gold colored blade, with a red line in the center of the blade, and a slightly more curved shape then her current iron sword. "Pardon me Erhard, but can you tell me about this sword?" She asked the shop owner, turning to him, and holding the sword out of its sheath in her right hand.

Me and Erhard turned to her right away, and Erhard gave her an explanation. "Ah, that's magic steel. Its really sharp, and can even channel magic into its blade. You like that one miss?"

Roxanne smiled and nodded, having already decided to keep the sword and make it her new weapon.

With that, we sold Roxanne's iron sword back to Erhard, and used that money, as well as the discount he offered us, to buy my new armor and Roxanne's new sword. Erhard also told us that he'd buy my leather armor back from me when we came back tomorrow to pick up my new armor. Both of us thanked him, then left his shop, telling him that we'd return tomorrow.

The sun had started setting by that point, so we headed to one of the local inns for dinner and to get ourselves a room for the night. We found ourselves a table after we arrived, and ordered our food. While we waited for it, Roxanne looked at me, and decided to make some conversation. "Hey, lord Damian, can I ask you something?"

I turned to her, always ready to listen to, and answer one of her questions. "Of course Roxanne. What's on your mind?"

"I'm not saying that I mind that much, but given our attitudes towards humans, is it okay for us to be so friendly with Erhard? I mean, he seems like a nice person, but he is still a human." Roxanne asked me, sounding like this had been on her mind for a while now.

I had to really think about that before answering her, and that ended up taking me a good five minutes. "To be honest, I've been wondering about that myself Roxanne. I mean, most of the humans I've met in my life so far have been scumbags, and that's true in both this world and the one I came from, but Erhard seems okay. And since we're being honest, he kinda reminds me of my father. In fact, I think this all goes back to my father actually."

"What do you mean by that, lord Damian? Was your father good to you?" Roxanne questioned me further, her curiosity growing more and more with each word from me.

I let out a sigh before answering, thinking back to everything my father told me the last time I saw him, as it was still fresh in my mind, despite how long ago it was. "Yeah, he was. Both of my parents were. They knew about my hatred towards humans, but despite that, and everything else about me, they never gave up on me. And on the day that I came to this world, my dad told me something before I left my world behind. He told me that there are good humans in the world, but Ill never meet them if I'm not willing to give them a chance. My old friend Shawn was one of those good humans, and at this point, I'm pretty sure Erhard is too. This whole kingdom hates my guts, but he greets me with a smile every time I walk through his door, despite having heard the lies. Plus, he doesn't try to scam me like so many other merchants in this kingdom have. I've never once had to introduce Erhard to my balloon friends."

Roxanne listened to my every word, doing some thinking of her own, and ended up recalling her parents telling her something similar. "Your parents sound like good people to me lord Damian. My parents used to tell me the same thing, but after everything that's happened, I'm just not sure anymore. Even so, I think we can trust Erhard. At least until he gives us a reason not to."

I thought about it a bit more, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. Still, one good human is not enough to douse my hatred for their species. Their gonna have to do a lot better then that if they wanna win me over."

Roxanne folded her arms under her chest, and nodded in complete agreement with my words as well. "The same goes for me. So, are we really going to fight for the humans and this kingdom when the next wave hits lord Damian?"

"As much as Id love to watch my fellow heroes, the king, and a certain red headed adventurer burn in hell, we unfortunately don't have much of a choice right now Roxanne. As much as it makes me wanna vomit saying this, we need all of them, for now. As idiotic and annoying as they are, they do have value to us right now. We're not strong enough to fight off the waves by ourselves yet, so we need the other cardinal heroes to help take some of the load off for us. Besides, as long as their alive, the king cant make any moves against us. And speaking of the king, we need his money, and the status he gives us in exchange for fighting the waves. Put simply, once we gain enough power, money, and status, we wont need any of them anymore. And believe me, once that happens, I'm leaving this kingdom to go build my own kingdom. All the idiots in this kingdom are on their own when that day comes." I explained all of this to Roxanne in a cold tone, as I couldn't care less what happened to this kingdom and all those who live in it.

"So this current set up is only temporary, and once we get what we need, we're done with this kingdom? That suits me just fine. I'm only really interested in fighting for my fellow demi-humans, and of course you lord Damian." Roxanne responded, giving me a warm smile.

Her words made me blush slightly, as I smiled back at her. "Thanks Roxanne, and Ill always have your back too."

Just then, Roxanne thought back to what Erhard said about me and her, about taking things to the next step, and it made her start blushing. It also made her lose her smile, in favor of a more nervous facial expression. "Hey lord Damian, can I ask you something else now?"

"You don't need to keep asking for permission Roxanne, so go right ahead. I'm listening." I kept smiling at her, waiting to see what she'd ask me next.

Roxanne stayed quiet for about thirty seconds, trying to think of a way to form the words, but in the end, she chickened out, and quickly thought up something else to ask me instead. "Uhhhh...Where the heck is our food already?! Excuse me! We're hungry over here!" She quickly turned, calling out to the inn staff.

Id have to be a complete idiot not to see what was going on with her, and it made me feel very excited inside. _"Alright! Hell yeah! I'm not really sure what I did, but I'm starting to win her over! That's the first step, but I've still got a long way to go before I can fulfill my other big dream of having my very own harem."_ Thankfully, I was able to contain my excitement, and since it appeared Roxanne wasn't ready to talk about this, I decided not to pry it out of her.

Thanks to Roxanne's shouts, our food arrived fairly quickly after that, then we both started eating. After we finished, we headed up to our room, got changed for bed, did our usual workout routine, then turned in for the night.

X

The following morning, after a nice, healthy breakfast, me and Roxanne headed straight back to Erhard's shop, eager to see what he came up with for my new armor. Once we arrived, Erhard greeted us, and told me that my new armor was waiting in the changing room. With that, I headed there to try it on, while Roxanne and Erhard waited for me in the front of the shop.

It took me about fifteen minutes to remove my leather armor, then put my new armor on. Once I finished, I walked out to show Roxanne and Erhard, laying my leather armor down on the counter. "Well, it doesn't exactly say "demon lord", but it does make me look like a villain, so I think Ill keep it." I said with a grin, showing off my new armor to the kitsune and the blacksmith.

Roxanne's tails stayed swaying as soon as she laid eyes on me, and she got a big smile on her face, accompanied by some sparkles in her eyes. "Wow! That's a really great look for you, lord Damian!"

Erhard grinned at me, looking and sounding pleased with his work. "I knew you'd like it. I call it barbarian armor! Given your whole "demon lord" thing, I figured you'd appreciate a more villainous look."

"Well you figured right. Thanks Erhard." I gave him a smile and a nod, then sold my leather armor back to him. Id kept it in pretty good shape, apart from the bite mark that two headed dog monster left in the right shoulder of, so Erhard gave me 80 silver coins for it, which I accepted and put into my coin pouch.

Just then, we all heard the sounds of horses moving through the streets, and went outside to see what was going on. We ended up finding a rather large number of knights on horseback marching through the streets of Melromarc, and a huge crowd of people gathered around, looking to be very concerned, as some of them whispered among themselves.

"Looks like the whole town's on edge." Roxanne was the first to comment on this scene, feeling a little tense herself.

"Makes sense. The second wave is almost here. It would be helpful if we knew exactly how much time we have left before then though." I added, remembering the king mentioning something about a dragon hourglass when I first came to this world. So I turned to Erhard, wondering if he knew where this hourglass was. "Hey Erhard, you wouldn't happen to know where the dragon hourglass is, would you?"

Erhard turned to me, looking confused as he gave me an answer. "What? You mean no one's told you about that already? Its inside that huge church you can see from town square. When the final grain of sand inside falls, all the heroes and their parties will be summoned to wherever the wave is. At least that's what I've heard."

I let out a hard sigh upon hearing this, looking and sounding annoyed already. "I don't know which I'm more upset out. The fact that no one told me any of this, or the fact that now we have to go a church. I'm a demon lord. Me and churches don't exactly go together like a fish to water."

Roxanne turned back to me as soon as she'd heard this, remembering everything I told her about my feelings towards God and the religion that worships him. "It cant be helped, lord Damian. I know where your faith lies, but we have a job to do right now. Lets just check it out real quick, then leave."

I looked back at her, thinking it over for about ten seconds, then sighs again. "Fine, but only because I don't wanna get teleported into a battle without any warning." An image of Myne and the king popped into my head after I said that, as it dawns on me that they probably didn't tell me about the location of the dragon hourglass for that exact reason.

With that, me and Roxanne thanked Erhard once more for his help, then left his shop once more, and started making our way to the church. Upon arriving at said church, I took a deep breath, then made my way inside, with Roxanne staying close to me the entire time. Once we were inside, I showed a woman who was definitely one of the churches' followers, based on her attire, my shield, and asked if we could see the dragon hourglass. The woman agreed, telling us to follow her, as she began leading us to the hourglass. When we finally reached it, it took my breath away for a moment, as I looked up at it in awe.

Some stairs then appeared, leading up to the hourglass, so I walked up them, wanting to see a closer look at it. "Okay, this thing is pretty cool. Where do I get one these?" Before anyone could answer me, the gemstone in my shield began to glow, surprising me. I quickly held my shield up, and it shot out a beam of energy towards the dragon hourglass, making it light up for a few seconds. When the light finally faded away, I could see a timer at the top of my status screen, and it was indeed counting down. "So its true. Looks like we've got about twenty hours and twelve minutes until the wave hits." I told Roxanne, as she stood and the base of the stairs, looking up at me and the hourglass with the same level of awe that I had.

Unfortunately, the moment was cut short by the sound of a very familiar and unpleasant voice. "Is that Damian I see?"

I recognized that voice right away, and it made me flinch for a second, followed by a look of annoyance, as I slowly turned around and saw that Motoyasu and his party had just entered the room.

Seeing my reaction and hearing this voice, Roxanne turned around too. Straight away, she recognized the spear on Motoyasu's back as the legendary spear, which told her that he was the spear hero. She then quickly recalled everything Id told her about him, and started looking concerned for me.

Motoyasu took several steps forward, his usual smug expression present on his face, as he spoke with a tone to match. "Hey now, what's this? Your not still fighting with that flimsy equipment, are you?"

"For your information, I just got this armor today, and I happen to like it. Besides, you don't have room to be criticizing other people's gear dressed the way you are. I mean, a cape? Seriously dude? Just how much of a narcissist can you be?" I countered his insult with one of my own, as I walked back down the stairs leading up to the dragon hourglass.

"Oh yeah? Your wearin a cape too Damian. So what's your excuse?" Motoyasu was quick to respond, still able to maintain his smug expression for the time being.

However, I was ready with a quick comeback, maintaining my cool as well. "Correction. This isn't a cape. Its a cloak. Just another example of how smart you aren't." I then proceeded to begin walking out of the room, and Roxanne was quick to follow me.

As I walked passed them, Motoyasu and his party shot me some glares, as Myne spoke up right as I walked by her. "Excuse me! You don't get to speak to sir Motoyasu that way Damian!"

I stopped when I heard her voice, clenching my fist tightly, but managed to keep my cool and offer a retort. "Sorry, but not everyone is so willing to bend over and kiss his ass. Seems like that's your job. So why don't you get back to it?"

"What did you just say to me?!" Myne started getting mad, as she and Motoyasu glared at me some more.

However, something else quickly caught their attention. Two somethings actually, as Ren and Itsuki had also entered the room around the same time.

"What's going on in here?" Itsuki questions, while Ren just let out a small huff at me.

"Nothing. We're leaving." I answered Itsuki in a cold tone, then made another attempt to leave the church, but was stopped again by the sound of Motoyasu's voice, though it wasn't directed at me this time. I turned back to Roxanne, seeing that Motoyasu had walked up to her, grabbed her hands, and was smiling at her.

"Hey, haven't see you before. I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, the spear hero." Motoyasu said to her, trying to sound smooth.

Roxanna looked back at him, but didn't blush or smile back at all. The opposite in fact. She looked disgusted. Looking at Motoyasu like he was repulsive, but still gave him a response, in a very cold and annoyed tone. "I know who you are. I saw your weapon when you walked in."

Motoyasu seemed completely oblivious. Blind to her obvious distaste for him and his advances, so he moved a little closer to her, and kept talking. "Damn your cute. Not to mention beautiful."

Just then, Myne walked over, clearly unamused by this whole scene. "Sir Motoyasu, why are you wasting your breath praising a demi-human?"

Motoyasu was just as oblivious to Myne's words, as he continued to try putting the moves on Roxanna, keeping his hold on her hands. "A girl as adorable and stunning as you shouldn't have to wield a sword. Please allow me to protect you from now on."

Under normal circumstances, Id be way beyond angry about this, but this wasn't the first time humans have been taken in by Roxanne's beauty and charm. In fact, for the past week, a good number of citizens have thrown complements at Roxanne, and have even given her free snacks. However, one by one, Roxanne rebuffed their affections and shot down any and all advances that came her way. All those memories made me smirk and laugh a bit, as I knew that Motoyasu was about to learn the hard way what happens to those who cant a hint and get too close to Roxanne.

With Motoyasu still holding her hands, Roxanne suddenly grabs hold of the index finger of Motoyasu's right hand, holds onto it very tightly, then starts bending it backwards has hard as she can. "We just met, so Ill explain this to you nicely. Don't ever touch me with your disgusting fingers human, or you might just lose them." She says to Motoyasu in an angry tone, shooting him a piercing glare, while continuing to bend his finger back further and further, until everyone in the room hears a loud, snapping sound.

The next thing everyone hears is Motoyasu letting out a loud cry of pain, as he quickly lets go of Roxanne, stumbles backwards, and falls onto his knees from that pain. "Grrrrrr...OUCH!" The spear hero grits his teeth, then punches the ground with his left hand, looking at his now broken finger. "You broke it!"

"Sir Motoyasu!" Myna lets out a gasp, as she and the rest of Motoyasu's party quickly run to his side, and their healer casts a healing spell on him right away.

By that point, I couldn't hold it in anymore, and burst with laughter. "Ahahahahahahahah! How'd that feel?! Ahahahahahahahah!" I got more then a few glares because of this, but I didn't care, and was finally able to calm myself down after three minutes. "I could've warned ya that that was comin, but where would've been the fun in that?" I said to Motoyasu with a smirk on my face, as a few more small chuckles escaped my lips.

Roxanne then turned away from Motoyasu and his party, and walked straight back to my side, not looking even a little guilty about injuring one of the four cardinal heroes at all. "I wouldn't be caught dead with the likes of you, hero or not. My place is right here. Fighting side by side with lord Damian." She added, shooting Motoyasu another glare.

"Are you kidding me?!" Motoyasu looks up at Roxanne like she's crazy, staying down on his knees while his healer continues to heal his broken finger. "That's insane! If you stay with Damian, you'll be in danger!"

"Why? Because he supposedly raped that girl?" Roxanne questions Motoyasu, pointing at Myne before continuing. "Lord Damian told me everything that happened that day, and I don't believe anything that's been said about him for one second. There's no way someone like lord Damian would ever do something like that. I trust him with my life. I feel safe with him. That's way more then I could ever say about you, you creep."

"There ya have it. Sorry Motoyasu, but the lady has spoken. But don't be too sad. I understand. Getting rejected by a girl can be hard, especially by a girl like Roxanne, whose a hundred times cuter, hotter, and more beautiful then any girl in your pitiful harem. Not to mention she's smarter and stronger then any of them too." I told Motoyasu in a serious, yet mocking tone, feeling very happy that Roxanne just stood up for me the way she did.

My words made Roxanne equally happy, as she smiled, blushed slightly, and her tails started swaying from side to side out of joy.

Our happiness was cut short, by the sound of laughter, coming from Myne, as she turned back to us and started speaking in a very condescending tone. "Ha! Your comparing someone like me to that filthy, flee bitten mutt?! That's a laugh, but if you ask me, you two are perfect for each other. A devil who takes pleasure in raping beautiful, innocent girls, and a disgusting, stupid demi-human who follows him around like the worthless dog she is."

If Roxanne wasn't mad before, she definitely was after hearing all of that. She glared at Myne, and walked towards her, as both girls looked each other straight in the eye. "You can say what ever you want about me, you lying little slut, but I will not allow you to say such things about lord Damian. And he's not a devil. He's a demon lord!"

Myne smirks at her, not intimidated at all. "Oh really? What are you gonna do about it, puppy?"

Before Roxanne could respond, I butted in, looking over at her from where I stood. "Don't waste your energy on her Roxanne. She's not worth it. We'll let karma deal with her. For now."

Roxanne heard me, then took a deep breath, calming herself down. "I hope you die in the next wave." She says to Myne, then turns, smacking Myne in the face with one of her tails when she does, proceeding to walk back over to me afterward.

Myne gasped at this, placing her hand on her side of her face that was just smacked. "You damned demi-human! How dare you touch me with those hideous tails of yours! Beasts like you should learn their place!" She glared at Roxanne, raised her hands, then fired a spell at my companion from behind.

However, just before the spell hit Roxanne, I suddenly rushed in, and blocked it with my shield. When it was over, I lowered my shield, and shot Myne a glare filled with pure rage. "And spoiled brats like you need to learn their place too. Like Roxanne said, you can do what ever you want to me, I'm used to it, but if you lay so much as a single finger on her, and Ill send you straight to hell where you belong!" My voice echoed through the room, as silence followed, and just for a split second, the green gemstone in my shield turned red. Seconds later, I turned to Roxanne, as she looked back at me. "Lets get out of here Roxanne. We don't have to stay and put up with this."

Roxanne looked back at me, and slowly nodded, not saying a word just yet. The two of us then proceeded to walk out of the room, but not before I said one last thing to Motoyasu. "You've got less then a day to get that finger healed up! Better get to it! Id hate to hear that something bad happened to you during the wave because you couldn't fight to your full potential!" My tone was one of sarcasm, as I mentally wished he and Myne would both drop dead.

Me and Roxanne passed Ren and Itsuki on our way out, as they had a few words for me themselves. "See you when the wave hits." Itsuki told me, but I ignored him completely.

"Just make sure you stay out of our way." Ren added, not even bothering to look at me as he spoke.

"Piss off!" I yelled back to Ren, and that was the last thing I said, as me and Roxanne made it to the exit and left the church.

X

Later that night, after me and Roxanne had finished our dinner and our workout routine, I decided to make some more medicine, trying to clear my head. I hadn't said a word since we left the church, and it was starting to really worry Roxanne.

The kitsune was sitting on her bed, looking at me with great concern, until she finally decided to speak up. "Lord Damian, are you okay?"

I stopped blending my medicine ingredients, then let out a heavy sigh. "I'm fine. Like I've said, I'm used to getting crap like that from humans all the time."

"But...?" Roxanne questioned me, knowing that there was more to it then that.

"But I'm not used to watching it happen to those I care for. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm overjoyed that you stood up for me today Roxanne, it really means a lot, but when I heard Myne say all those things to you, and then fire that spell at you, something inside me just snapped. I've already lost every person I've ever truly cared for in my life, and I don't wanna end up having to add you to that list Roxanne." I looked down, admitting all of this to her, as the thought of losing her filled me with dread and heartache.

Roxanne was touched by my words, but it also made her concern for me grow. So she got up from her bed, walked over to me, knelt down behind me, then wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly, wrapping her tails around me too.

This surprised me, and made me start blushing, as I glanced at her, looking for answers. "Roxanne?"

She kept her hold on me the whole time, pouring her very heart and soul into her following words. "I'm not going anywhere, lord Damian. After my parents died, my home was destroyed, and those chains were put on me, I nearly lost all hope, but then you came into my life, and gave it back to me. You fed me, clothed me, made sure I had everything I needed, and most of all, you taught me how to fight. Not just against monsters, but against the world itself. That's why Ill stand by you, no matter what the world throws at us, forever and always. Also, please try to think about yourself every once in a while. Its okay to be selfish sometimes. You said you don't wanna lose me. Well I don't wanna lose you either. If I lost you, I don't know that Id be able to keep going. Besides, we both have dreams to make reality, and we will someday. Your my shield, and I'm your sword. As long as we're together, this world cant stop us." Roxanne smiles after she finishes speaking to me, keeping her arms and tails wrapped around me.

As I listened to her, I placed one of my hands over hers, and got a smile of my own. "Your absolutely right. Thanks Roxanne. I feel so grateful to have met you."

"Yes. I feel the same way. Ill never regret meeting you, lord Damian. So please forget about everything the other heroes and that bitch said to us, because none of that matters. Fighting against the waves does. Now come on and get some sleep. We'll both need our strength for tomorrow." Roxanne let go of me after that, letting one of her tails brush against my cheek, as she walked back over to her bed, and laid down on it, making herself comfortable.

Her tail was so warm and soft, and I once again felt truly grateful for the chance to feel it in such a way. "Your right again. So okay, I'm goin." I packed up my blending supplies, then walked over to my bed, laying down and making myself comfortable just as Roxanne did. "Good night Roxanne. Pleasant dreams."

"Good night lord Damian. Same to you." Roxanne responded to me, then blew out the candle in our room. The two of us got to sleep shortly after that, knowing that we'd face our first wave together tomorrow.

X

The following morning began just like any other morning for me and Roxanne. We woke up, got dressed and ready for the day, then got ourselves some breakfast. But we both knew that today would be anything but ordinary, as the timer on my status screen told me that the second wave was just minutes away. So after we finished eating, me and Roxanne headed for town square to wait for the wave to arrive. When we made it to town square, we found numerous other adventurers and knights gathered around, likely all present to fight against the wave of catastrophe as well.

With only ten seconds remaining until the wave began, I offered up some last minute words to Roxanne, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "No matter what, we stick together Roxanne. Don't try to do too much on your own, and neither will I."

Roxanne heard me, and nodded, taking one last deep breath. "Right. I'm with you, lord Damian."

It helped calm my nerves to hear her say that, as the timer showed that we only had three seconds remaining before the wave.

3...2...1

With that, the sky suddenly turned a dark shade of red, and me and Roxanne, along with Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, their parties, and all the adventurers and knights that had gathered together were transported straight to the battlefield.

After being transported, me and Roxanne both looked around, then saw the wave itself rolling through the darkened sky.

My first reaction to the wave, besides unease, was actually some surprise. "Huh. So its literal. An actual wave. I thought everyone just speaking metaphorically."

"Don't let yourself get distracted by it lord Damian. The real threat isn't the wave itself, but what comes after it." Roxanne informed me, placing one hand on the handle of her sword, gripping it tightly, with the memories of the first wave still very fresh in her mind.

I didn't need to ask what she meant, as I kept looking up at the wave, and saw hundreds, maybe even thousands of monsters rain down from it. "Oh jeez. No wonder the humans couldn't handle these waves on their own. So many monsters. I don't even know where to start."

After taking another moment to look around, Roxanne soon spotted something that stood out to her, and pointed it out for me. "How about over there? Its the village of Lute."

I turned, seeing Lute village not too far off from where we stood. "The dragon hourglass is in the city. Did the citizens of Lute even know that the wave was today?" I asked, thinking that the king probably wouldn't bother sending anyone to warn a village of lower class people about the wave, and also remembering that neither me nor Roxanne ever actually told anyone from Lute village about it either.

I got my answer when me and Roxanne saw a flare go shooting up into the air over Lute village.

"That answers that. The castle isn't too far from here, but by the time the knights get here, there wont be anything or anyone left to save, not that the king cares anyway." After saying all of that out loud, I started to wonder, did I care? It was just a small village of humans, but as more and more monsters came raining down around Lute village, and my father's words playing on loop in my head, I quickly got the answer to that question too. "Damn it! There's no point in us just standing here! We have to fight anyway, so our battlefield may as well be Lute village! Come on Roxanne!" I started running as fast as I could towards the village, knowing that me and Roxanne would likely end up fighting against who knows how many monsters on our own, but for what ever reason, my moral compass just wouldn't let me go anywhere else.

"Right behind you lord Damian!" Roxanne quickly ran after me, making sure to stay close to me like we planned. Both of us may have hated humans with a burning passion, but this whole situation reminded Roxanne of when her home village was attacked and destroyed. No one came to help her village either, so even though the people of Lute were humans, Roxanne had her own deep seeded reasons for coming to their aid, just as I did.

By the time we arrived at the village, it was already overrun with monsters, mostly undead and large bug type monsters, but that wasn't anywhere near enough to make me and Roxanne turn back. An undead was just about to strike a lone, male villager down, but at the very last second, I rushed in and blocked the monster's sword with my shield.

A split second later, Roxanne drew her sword, and sliced the monster's head clean off, and the undead died for a second time.

I then glanced at the man we saved, and kept my shield raised. "Get out of here now, and go help the other villagers evacuate! Me and my companion will stay here and deal with the monsters!"

The male villager got back on his feet, nodded at me, then ran off to go meet up with his fellow villagers, leaving me and Roxanne alone, as the monsters quickly surrounded us.

Roxanne glared at the monsters around us, and slowly moved closer to me, keeping her sword out and ready. "What's our battle plan lord Damian?"

"First, lets look for any trapped villagers. I'm sure they need us. Ill clear a path through these monsters Roxanne. You follow me, and cut down any stragglers." I kept my eyes locked on the monsters too, changing my shield into its Light Metal form. I then took a deep breath, held my shield out in front of me, and charged straight into the hoard of undead like a rocket, smashing through every monster in my way.

Roxanne waited a few seconds, then ran after me, following the path I was making for her. She cut down every last monster that I knocked down, finishing them off, while also making sure not to let me get too far ahead of her.

As we ran through the village, we passed several groups of villagers. All of them had fallen behind the others and were now at the mercy of the monsters, but thankfully, me and Roxanne got to them just in time, saving their lives and then telling them to run for it. Our actions ended up attracting the attention of every monster in the area, which was good for the villagers, but the odds against me and Roxanne kept on getting worse and worse by the second. The two of us soon made it to the other side of the village, and stopped to catch our breath. There were still villagers in trouble, but far too many undead had surrounded us by that point.

"Damn. I'm open to suggestions if you've got any Roxanne." I said to her, switching to my Rope Shield, then used my Air Strike Shield to hold back some of the undead.

Roxanne cut down a few bee type monsters, then answered me while she had the chance. "These monsters are all undead and bugs. Both types of monsters are especially weak against fire, but there's no way I have enough magic power to take out all of these monsters."

As I listened to her, I started looking around the village, trying to find something, anything, that might be able to help us out. My eyes soon stopped on the watch tower, and an idea entered my mind. "I know we said we wouldn't leave each other's sides, but there's something I need to do right now Roxanne. Will you be okay for little while on your own?"

"Only if you promise me that you will be, lord Damian." She said to me, cutting down two more undead.

I grinned at her, not sounding scared or worried at all. "Its gonna take a lot more then a few undead and some bugs to scare a demon lord."

"Then go. I can hold my ground just fine on my own for a while." Roxanne grinned right back at me, not sounding scared or worried even one bit herself.

I nodded at her, then charged right back into the hoard of undead. "Air Strike Shield!" I made my Air Strike Shield appear above the undead, then jumped onto it, using it as a platform to get over the hoard, then I continued on to the watch tower. As soon as I reached the base of the tower, I started climbing up the ladder built onto it as fast as I could, noticing several more villagers trapped by the undead and bug monsters on my way up. Once I reached the top, I found exactly what I was hoping to find. Lanterns. Each one filled with lighter fluid. Not wanting to waste any time, I grabbed the bell that was hanging from the ceiling of the tower, then pulled it right off the ceiling.

With the bell in my hand, I ran over to the edge of the watch tower, then threw the bell straight down into the biggest and most open area I could see. As it fell and hit the ground, the bell made all kinds of noise, which drew most of the monsters in, surrounding the bell. I grinned once more at this, then turned my attention to the lanterns. I opened them up one by one, then dumped all the lighter fluid inside down at the undead and the bugs, dousing them with it. "Get them now Roxanne! Use your fire!" I called out to her, having done my part.

Back on the ground, Roxanne heard me, then faced the mob of undead and bug monster. "Burn to death! All of you!" She made a single blue fireball appear in her hand, then threw it into the mob. The second her flame hit one of the monsters, its entire body caught on fire, and the flames spread to the rest of the monsters in seconds.

Unfortunately, all my yelling gave me away, and some of the burning undead headed straight for the watch tower. They didn't get far, slowly falling to the ground, as the flames slowly but surely snuffed out their lives. But some of them still managed to touch the tower, and when they did, it caught on fire as well. "Oh crap." I looked down, noticing this, as the tower started to fall with me in it. I thought fast though, and quickly switched to my Pipe Shield. "Shield Prison!" I made my Shield Prison appear around me, just seconds before the tower came crashing down to the ground below.

Roxanne saw this, then gasped right away. "Lord Damian!" She ran right over to the pile of wood that was once the watch tower, hoping that I was okay.

And I was, as my Shield Prison vanished several seconds later, revealing that I was mostly unharmed. "Urgh...I'm okay Roxanne!" I climbed out of the rubble, then ran over to her, seeing that my plan had worked, as the area was mostly clear of monsters for the moment.

The two of us gained a lot more experience points after that, and we both finally managed to reach level 20 as a result. We both knew what this meant, and it started happening almost immediately.

Roxanne's entire body began to glow, as a third tail grew in behind her, and this time, her magic power was given an extra boost. She smiled at her new tail right away, then quickly turned back to me, clearly very excited and happy about it. "I got my third tail! Isn't that great lord Damian?!"

I smiled at her and her new tail as well, very happy for her as well, as I gave her a nod and a quick rub on top of her head. "For sure. This is really great Roxanne. Three down, six to go."

Roxanne kept on smiling, and started to blush, really enjoying this small intermission. But we were still in the middle of a battle, and before we knew it, our intermission was cut short by the appearance of some rather surprising beings on the battlefield.

"Sir hero!" Three villagers suddenly appeared, as one of them called out to me, and they all ran over to me and Roxanne with some rusty swords and pitchforks in their hands. However, it was clear from the tone of the villager's voice, and the looks on their faces that their intentions weren't to bring harm to either of us.

Me and Roxanne turned to them, looking surprised for a moment, wondering why they, along with so many other villagers who had arrived just seconds after they did, had returned to the battlefield, especially after they had already managed to escape from it. "What are you doing here?! Didn't we tell you to evacuate already?!" I yelled at them, already having a pretty good idea of the answer though.

"Forgive us, sir hero, but we're not leaving. After seeing how courageously you and your companion have been defending our village, we couldn't just sit back and do nothing. This is our home, and we'll fight for it too." One of the villagers spoke to me in a determined tone, while a good number of other villagers were already fighting against another group of monsters that had just appeared. "We've decided to fight with you, sir hero. Please accept our help."

Under normal circumstances, Id never accept help from a bunch of humans, but at this particular moment, me and Roxanne were desperate. "Very well. In that case, help us keep the undead contained here. We don't need them going after the helpless villagers who've already evacuated."

The villagers all nodded at me, but then a huge undead suddenly approached us, and swung the axe that it carried with it down at the villagers.

Fortunately for them, I was just a little bit faster then the monster. "Shield Prison!" I trapped the three villagers inside my Shield Prison, and it protected them from the undead monster's attack. "Roxanne!"

"On it!" Already aware of what I wanted her to do, Roxanne made a move on the large undead, jumping up towards the monster, and severing its head from its body with just two quick slashes from her sword.

My Shield Prison vanished after that, and I turned to face the three villagers I saved, as well as all the others that had come to help. "Listen up! I want all of you to deal with the ones that get passed me and Roxanne here! Leave the bigger ones to us!"

All the villagers understood my orders, and fell back to give me and Roxanne some room, preparing themselves to take down any and all monsters that manage to get passed us.

Once the villagers were out of sight, me and my loyal kitsune then turned back to all the monsters that had just arrived on the scene, and I was a bit discouraged to see that this group was just as big as the one we killed moments ago. "They just keep on coming. What the hell are those idiots doing out there?" I asked, knowing that Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki and their parties were all on the front lines at this time, but since the wave was still going, that meant they hadn't finished off the boss monster yet.

Just then, out of seemingly nowhere, dozens of flaming arrows were suddenly shot up into the air from just outside the village, catching my and Roxanne's attention. "What's happening now?" Roxanne questioned, looking up at the arrows, as they then started raining down over the village.

Seeing this, I quickly ran over to Roxanne, grabbed onto her, and held her close to me, holding my shield above us. "Sorry Roxanne. Now once more, Shield Prison!" My spell once again made an appearance, materializing around me and my companion this time, protecting us from the falling fire arrows. I kept the spell going until I was sure it was over, then I freed us from it, let go of Roxanne, and the two of us looked around at all the damage the arrows had caused.

True, the attack did kill most of the undead and bug monsters, but it also set fire to a good portion of the village as well. Not to mention that if it hadn't been for my spell, the attack also might've killed us too. Needless to say, we were both pretty pissed, especially when we discovered who fired off that round of arrows in the first place, as we both heard the sounds of laughter and footsteps near the entrance to the village.

A group of knights from the castle had entered Lute village, and I recognized a few of them from my several visits to the castle. "Look at that. We burnt them all to death with a single strike." The knight who appeared to be their squad leader said, sounding very pleased with their work. "Huh? Well, if it isn't the shield hero. You must be pretty tough to have survived that onslaught." The squad leader said to me in a mocking tone, coming to a stop, as he and his fellow knights finally took notice of me and Roxanne.

Roxanne's glare intensified at the knights, as she gripping the handle of her sword very tightly, letting some growls escape her lips.

But before she could make any moves against them, I stepped out in front of her, walking over to the knights with a friendly smile on my face. "Well, thanks for sayin so. Your attack wasn't too shabby either." I made some light chit chat at first, but as soon as I was close enough to their squad leader, my expression changed to one of anger in the blink of an eye. Then, before any of his fellow knights had the time to react, I threw a punch at him and nailed him right in his face, sending him stumbling back several feet, before falling flat on his backside.

The other knights gasped at this, then glared at me, as their captain winced in pain, slowly getting back on his feet with his nose now bleeding. "Rgh...You ungrateful criminal! You dare strike a royal knight?!"

"I'm one of the four cardinal heroes, dumbass! I outrank you!" I yelled back at him right away, then couldn't help laughing at him a little too. "Come to think of it, I outrank you, and I haven't even been in this world a month. Meanwhile, it must've taken you years to become a royal knight. How sad that must be for you."

The squad leader glared at me once again, as one of his knights made an attempt to strike me down, but the second he did, Roxanne quickly rushed in, and blocked his blade with her own.

My companion glared at the knight with her eyes glowing red with rage, as her growls got even louder. "I wont allow you to lay so much as a finger on my lord Damian. Your attack nearly killed both of us, you damned humans! You will show us respect, or die!"

With Roxanne holding the knight's attention, I was free to move back, getting some distance between me and them. Roxanne quickly pushed the knight she had clashed with away, then jumped backwards to rejoin me, as we kept our eyes on the knights.

"Tch, stupid demi-human! Why would royal knights like us ever show respect to a scoundrel like the shield hero, or to a filthy mongrel like you?!" The squad leader yelled at us once more, his tone gushing with pride and arrogance.

Just then, I smirked at him and his fellow knights, noticing something that they clearly didn't. So I decided to answer that question for Roxanne, which she understood, starting to calm down a little, especially when she noticed what I had noticed. "Ya know, maybe we should get a second opinion. How about you turn around and ask those guys what they think?" I pointed at a spot that was several feet in the air, behind the squadron of knights.

The knights grew curious after hearing this from me, and quickly turned around to see what I was talking about. The second they did, they all flinched, seeing that a new group of zombies and bugs had entered the village, and another huge zombie was standing just a few feet away from their captain, looking down at him as it stood at the front of this new group of monsters. "Everyone get into formation quickly! Shield hero, get over here and do your job as one of the four cardinal heroes! Fight off these monsters!" The knight's captain called out to me, but didn't receive any response in return.

Instead, I just stood there with Roxanne, making casual conversation, and acting like nothing was going on at all. "Hmmm...Ya know Roxanne, maybe the royal knight captain made a good point. I mean, we're just a scoundrel and a demi-human. Surely we wouldn't be any help in this situation."

Roxanne caught on to what I was doing, and was quick to join in. "You know, that is very true lord Damian. A group of highly trained and honorable royal knights such as themselves shouldn't need any help from us in dispatching monsters such as these. Why don't we fall back for now and leave this to them? I'm sure we'd only get in their way otherwise."

"Excellent idea. Lets go somewhere we wont bother these brave and strong royal knights." I nodded at her suggestion, my tone one of pure mockery, as I glanced at the royal knights, giving them a look that said "Screw you. You're on your own."

At the same time, Roxanne shot the royal knights a look that was so cold it would've made even ice insecure.

The knight captain was shocked to see this from a legendary cardinal hero, even if it was me, and his shock grew even more when he turned back to the large zombie. It was practically on top of him by that point, and had its axe raised up high, ready to strike the royal knight down with a single blow. The captain tried to raise his sword as fast as he could, but he didn't have the time to do much else. However, he did have just enough time to get a few last words out, shouting them out as loud as he could. "SHIELD HERO!" The sounds that came after that were the sounds of the large zombie striking down the royal knight's captain with its axe, ending his life by slamming its axe down on top of the captain's head, smashing his skull like a walnut.

All of the other knights looked on in complete and total shock, as their captain's now lifeless body slowly fell to the ground. None of them could believe what had just taken place, but they didn't have time to grieve, as the monsters came after them next.

"Air Strike Shield!" Now that their captain was stone cold dead, I was feeling a little more generous, so I quickly switched to my Rope Shield again, and made my Air Strike Shield appear in front of one of the younger royal knights, saving him from the attack of another zombie.

Roxanne jumped back into the fray herself, casting one of her new and improved spells. "Fox Fire!" At her side, she created a large fox, made entirely out of her blue flames. She then controlled the fox, making it fly through the air, and head straight for the large zombie that killed the royal knight captain. The fox bit down on the zombie's neck once it reached its target, then more blue flames quickly engulfed the zombie's entire body. The flames ended the zombie's life in seconds, as it slowly fell to the ground, and the flames continued to burn its lifeless corpse.

Seconds after that, me and Roxanne headed straight back into the fray, running passed the squad of royal knights to meet the monsters head on. "Stay here and help us fight off these monsters, or don't. We don't care, but let what happened to your captain be a lesson to you all. Never look down on a demon lord, or his companions." I told the remaining knights in a cold tone, as me and Roxanne got ourselves ready for another round with the monsters from the wave of catastrophe.

Without their captain, the remaining knights weren't sure what to do, until a knight with a scar on his face stepped up and took command. "Forget the shield hero! Two of you grab the captain's body, then lets get out of here and go support the other three heroes!"

Even though he wasn't their captain, the other knights were quick to carry out his orders, as two of them grabbed their captain's lifeless body and started to carry it away with them. Their squad started leaving Lute village after that, but the young knight that I saved seemed hesitant, stopping to look at me, with mixed feelings clouding his judgement.

"Lets go! Move your ass!" The makeshift royal knight captain called out to the younger royal knight, noticing that he was falling behind.

The young royal knight heard this command, but still seemed hesitant. He continued to look at me for another ten seconds, his mind racing, as he tried to get his thoughts and priorities in order. Once his internal struggle had ended, he turned, and left with the rest of his squad, but took one last look at me as he did, still holding some lingering feelings of uncertainty.

Despite the fact that me and Roxanne now stood alone against a whole new mob of zombies and bugs, I got a big grin on my face right after the knights left. "Tch, who needs em? Not us. Not with what we've got. Roxanne, its time. Do it." I told her, switching over to my Light Metal Shield again, and keeping the monsters away from her while she carried out my request.

Once again, Roxanne knew what I was talking about, and took a deep breath, focusing her magic power. "As you wish, lord Damian. Even with my third tail, and given how much magic power I've used over the course of this battle so far, Id say I can only keep it up for about thirty seconds at best."

Her warning didn't scare me, as I stayed close to her, and continued to deflect attacks from monsters, making sure not to let them anywhere near her. "That's good enough Roxanne. Hopefully those three idiots will finally finish off the boss monster in that time. Just make sure not to waste even a single second. We have to make full use of these next thirty seconds."

Roxanne smiled and nodded at my words, as her eyes began to give off a very tantalizing red glow. "I've still got plenty of fight left in me. I will not allow myself to fall here. Now behold, our kingdom's strongest warriors!" She cast her spell, and an entire squad of demi-humans. Multiple different species, with each one clad in armor, and carrying swords and shields.

As soon as the hoard of zombies and bug monsters saw these warriors, they immediately turned their attention to them, but what they didn't realize is that there weren't any actual demi-human warriors at all, apart from Roxanne of course. It was all an illusion cast by Roxanne herself.

With that, our thirty seconds began, and me and Roxanne got right to work, attacking every single undead and bug we could, while their focus remained on Roxanne's illusionary troops.

"Awesome job Roxanne! Now Shield Charge!" Holding my shield out in front of me, I filled it with as much magic power as I could, then charged at full speed into the fray, smashing every monster I came across with my shield like a battering ram.

At the same time, Roxanne made sure not to let the distance between us grow by too much, but she still moved at high speed, and cut down monster after monster. She even killed another huge undead in a single blow, splitting his skull right down the middle.

All the while, Roxanne's illusion was keeping the zombies and bugs busy, dividing their attention away from us, which made things far easier for us.

"Dog Bite!" I switched to my Two Headed Black Dog Shield, aiming it towards a pair of bee monsters. The two dog heads then extended outward, towards the bees with their jaws wide open, letting out some growls. The bees were focused on one of Roxanne's illusionary warriors, so it was easy for the dog heads to grab the large insects in their jaws, then sink their fangs into their bodies.

That's when Roxanne made the scene, slicing the bees with her sword while they were caught in my shield's grip, careful not to cut either of its dog heads. And whenever a zombie or a bug got too close to Roxanne, I was there, blocking its attack with my shield, prompting the dog heads to bite back. After that, all Roxanne had to do was finish the monster in question off with her sword.

Even though we were starting to near the end of our thirty seconds, I was way in the zone, a big grin spread across my face, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins, as me and Roxanne continued to finish off monster after monster. "I've never felt more alive in my life!"

My words made Roxanne grin too, and giggle to herself a bit in between attacks. "I have to admit, its been a long time since I've felt this level of enjoyment myself! This is what I've always longed for! To feel like a warrior and fight against real monsters!"

Hearing her, I let out some laughs of enjoyment of my own, as me and her continued to fight and kill every monster that came our way, but with only five seconds until Roxanne's illusion fades away.

Fortunately, luck was on our side this time. At about the same time as Roxanne's illusion faded away, Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their parties managed to finally finish off the boss monster of the wave. A chimera.

Almost immediately after they did, the waves of catastrophe started to vanish from the sky, as the sky changed from red back to its usual blue.

"Lord Damian, look! The sky!" Roxanne noticed this before I did, smiling up at the sky as she informed me.

After pushing another zombie away from me with my shield, I looked up just in time to see this wave come to an end. "Well Ill be damned. Looks like those fools are good for something after all. Now all we have to do is take care of the stragglers."

Now that the wave was over, the zombies and bugs stopped coming, but there were still a few left for me and Roxanne to deal with, the ones that were busy fighting Roxanne's illusionary warriors. Between the two of us, we had little to no magic power left, but we didn't need it to take care of the monsters that were left.

It didn't take us too long to finish off what was left of the wave's forces, and once the last one was down, the two of us finally started to relax and lower our guards. Each of us took out a potion from our bags, and drank them down to ease our fatigue and restore some of our lost magic power. Surprisingly, despite our overwhelming odds, neither of us took any horrible amounts of damage during the wave.

Roxanne sat down on some debris to catch her breath, while I went around, gathered some materials from each of the different monsters that appeared during the wave, and fed them all to my shield, eager to see what I would unlock. I unlocked several more new shields from those materials, and thanks to all the monsters we killed, my level had risen to 23, while Roxanne's had gone up to 25.

Before either of us knew it, the sun had already started setting, signaling the arrival of dusk. Once we'd had some time to recover, me and Roxanne took a moment to look around at all the damage Lute village and its people had taken as a result of the wave. Entire buildings were destroyed, many people were injured, and some were even killed. However, neither me nor Roxanne seemed all that bothered by it, given our feelings towards humans and all. Still, both of us knew that things would've been a lot worse for Lute village and its people if we didn't decide to help them.

Roxanne turned to me after that, and decided to break the silence between us. "Lord Damian, this wave is over. We killed all the monsters that came here."

I turned back to her, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I know. We did a pretty good job, I think." Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt at that point. Yes, I was happy that we survived and got stronger, and I was having a really good time towards the end. But at the same time, it hadn't fully sunk in yet. That was my first big battle in this world, and it left me very deep in thought. It was one thing to watch something like this happen in an anime, or two face a battle like it in a video game, but it was another thing entirely to actually experience it myself.

"Sir hero." My thoughts were once again interrupted by the appearance of humans, as a good number of the inhabitants of Lute village gathered before me and Roxanne. We both turned to face them, and their mayor bowed to us. "Thank you very much. Without you, our village would have surely perished. Please accept our most sincere gratitude for your strength and courage this day."

I stayed silent for a moment, then responded to their show of thanks. "Honestly, we didn't really do as much as I would've liked. We got lucky this time."

"No. There's no way we could've held back those monsters on our own. We'll never forget what you did for us today sir hero." The next villager to speak up was the man me and Roxanne saved right at the beginning of the wave, who later returned with others to lend us a hand.

I listened to what he had to say, then turned my back to them, saying only one more thing to them. "Just remember, the ones that did this for you were demon lord Damian, and Roxanne the kitsune."

The villagers seemed a little unsure about the whole demon lord thing, but they quickly pushed that aside for the time being, giving us one more bow of gratitude before turning and walking away, leaving us.

Roxanne watched them leave, and once they were out of earshot, she spoke to me again. "My feelings towards humans haven't changed, but I don't regret what we did here. Is that weird?"

I sighed before answering her, not really sure of that myself. "Roxanne, I'm actually not sure. Honestly, I would've preferred it if we fought on the front lines and defeated the boss monster ourselves. Partly for the experience and thrills, and partly because I would've enjoyed shoving it in the other heroes' faces, but maybe next time. I do know one thing for sure though." I turned to Roxanne, placed my hand gently on top of her head, and started to give her a few good rubs, smiling at her the whole time. "You did good Roxanne. Real good. I never would've survived this ordeal without your help. So thank you, my dear companion."

Roxanne flinched and let out a small gasp when she felt this, and heard my words along with it, a bright red blush appearing on her face. Just then, and without warning, she turned to me, moved close to me, and gave me a big hug, getting a warm smile on her face too. "The same can be said about you lord Damian. I would never have made it to this point without you. I'm finally a warrior, and I'm happy. So thank you too, my lord."

I was a bit surprised by this sudden embrace, as it made me blush too, but I quickly regained my smile, and hugged her back. "This wasn't bad for our first wave together, but we'll really show em next time for sure Roxanne. Until then, lets just enjoy the moment, and call this a win. Sound good?"

Roxanne remained close to me, keeping her arms wrapped around me, giving me a nod of approval. "That sounds perfect lord Damian."

Meanwhile, back at the church, the dragon hourglass reset itself, and already started counting down to the next wave of catastrophe.

**And so, the first wave has come to an end, but there are still many trials ahead of Damian and Roxanne. The next of which will be a confrontation with one of his fellow cardinal heroes. How will that confrontation end? Will Damian find a way to emerge as the victor? Or will be fall prey to foul play like Naofumi did and taste defeat? And what will become of Roxanne? The answers to these questions may surprise you, but as always, no spoilers.**

**Now then, I actually cant think of too many questions you might have at this time, but I'm pretty sure one is nagging at your minds at least a little. So here it is.**

**Why did I decide to kill off the royal knight's captain? Well, he doesn't really have any big parts in the future, and is so unimportant that they never even bothered to give him a name, so I figured he'd work well for what I was trying to do here. Which was to drive the point home of just how deep seeded Damian and Roxanne's distaste for humans really is. Honestly though, I don't think anyone's gonna miss that guy. He was kind of a d***.**

**That's the only potential question I can think of off the top of my head, but if you have anymore for me, please just ask. Reviews are always welcome. And so are favs and follows. Hint, hint. lol**

**This has been The Demon Lord of the Shield Chapter 4. I hope you'll join me, Damian, and Roxanne next time! See ya then!**

**And since I probably wont get the next chapter up in time for this, Happy Halloween to you all!**


	6. Ch 5 - Never Meant to be Alone

**Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had a truly eventful week.**

**First, me and my brother got ourselves a new car. Its technically used, but its barely been used, and we're happy with it. And on Wednesday, me and my brother went to go see the new One Piece movie, Stampede. It was so awesome! Anyone else out there a One Piece fan?**

**Anyway, Halloween sadly got rained and winded out for us, but our cousin invited us to a party, which was pretty cool. What wasn't cool was when the power in our apartment went out, so I lost a whole night of work, but as you can see, I didn't let that stop me.**

**Its done! And its my longest chapter yet! So I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or anyone or anything from it. I only own my OC's, Damian, Roxanne, and all who come into the story after them.**

Chapter 5 - Never Meant to be Alone

With the second wave of catastrophe over and done with, the kingdom of Melromarc went from tense to laid back in a matter of hours, or about as close to "laid back" as things got around Melromarc at least. As the moon and the stars shinned in the night sky above the kingdom, all of its nobles, knights, adventurers, and a few other honored guests were invited to a party at the castle to celebrate Melromarc's victory and survival against the second wave. It was a very elegant event, with all kinds of food, music, and almost everyone dressed in their finest attire. Everyone was more then happy to attend the celebration, except for two beings in particular that is.

Ordinarily, me and Roxanne would never attend anything evenly remotely like this, but after giving it some thought, we decided that we should attend the party after all. Although, our only motivation for showing up was our reward for fighting against the wave, and the free food. Once we arrived, the two of us quickly made ourselves some plates, grabbed a few drinks, then found our own little corner of the room to hide in until we'd gotten our reward, and could therefore leave. Fortunately for us, our hiding spot was right next to a window, so we had a nice view of the town at night at least. I sat on the window sill, while Roxanne found herself a chair, pulled it over to the window, and sat down next to me.

To officially begin the celebration, the king stood tall at the top of some stairs in the room, overlooking everyone in the room, and raising his glass in a toast as he spoke. "Thanks you our heroes, the battle was splendidly won, and tonight we celebrate! Enjoy yourselves to the fullest!"

At his words, almost everyone in the room raised their own glasses and cheered, save for me and Roxanne of course.

_"Tch. Probably talkin about every hero except me. Screw you and your party, old man." _I thought to myself, then proceeded to look around the room, seeing all kinds of people, and also hearing what some of them had to say about the battle against the second wave. It seemed as though there were very few casualties this time around, and most people thank the heroes for that. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all receive lots of praise for their efforts, but no one even bothers to look for and praise me. I preferred it this way though, not even wanting to be in the same room as humans like these, much less talk to any of them. Plus, praise from a bunch of narrow minded, idiotic humans carried less then zero value to me anyway.

After about two minutes, Roxanne turned to me, and spoke up, hoping to snap me out of it. "Lord Damian, you should eat your food before it gets cold. This kingdom might be rotten to its core, but the food here is actually really good." She said with a smile, taking a bite of some meat from her plate.

Roxanne's words brought me back to reality, as I turned to her, and grabbed my plate. I managed to find myself some nice looking crab legs among the feast, and I always really liked seafood. So I cracked one of the legs open, dipped the meat in some melted butter, then gave it a try. "Mmmm...Not bad. Still, lets not stay any longer then we have to Roxanne. Lets just finish eating, get our reward, then blow this joint."

Roxanne nodded at me, but didn't respond, as her mouth was stuffed with bread. She ate so much that she started choking a little when she tried to swallow it all, so she quickly grabbed her glass of water, and drink some of it down. Seconds later, she was fine, taking a deep breath once she could breath again.

I watched all of this, and couldn't help laughing at her a little.

My laughter made Roxanne turn to me again, and start glaring at me, as a small blush appeared on her face. "I've told you before, lord Damian. Don't laugh at me."

I stopped as soon as I heard this from her, but still smiled at her, despite her glare. "Sorry Roxanne. I couldn't help myself. You really shouldn't eat so much at one time."

Roxanne glared at me for a few more seconds, then started smirking at me after I finish speaking, looking a bit mischievous. "Oh, I see. I grabbed so much food though. Maybe you should eat some for me, lord Damian. Here!" Before I had time to react, she grabbed her fork, cut off a big piece of cake with it, then shoved the dessert in my mouth with great speed and force.

This rather sudden turn of events caught me off guard, as I ended up coughing and struggling to breath a little myself, having to grab my own glass of water to swallow the cake down.

Roxanne started giggling as she watched me do this, looking and sounding very satisfied with her payback. "Sorry lord Damian. I couldn't help myself. You really shouldn't eat so much at one time you know." She said with another smirk on her face, using the same line that I used a moment ago.

I took a deep breath as soon as I could breath again, then listened to her, and found myself smirking right back at her. "Okay, fair enough. That makes us even now, right?"

Roxanne thought about that for a moment, but she got an idea in her head, and shook her head at me. "Not quite yet, lord Damian. I fed you some of my food. Now you feed me some of your food."

My companion had caught me off guard for the second time since this party began, and her request had drawn a blush out onto my face this time. "Uhhhh...Pardon me?"

"You heard me. Grab some food off your plate, and give me a taste, but be more gentle with me, okay lord Damian? Now ahhhhhh…" Roxanne told me in a playful tone, then opened her mouth up wide in my direction, and closed her eyes, waiting for me to feed her some of my food.

This was very new to me, and while it did make me slightly uncomfortable, I didn't wish to disappoint her at all. So, giving in to her mischievous demands, I grabbed some crab meat off my plate with my fork, dipped it in some butter, then began to slowly guide the food towards Roxanne's open mouth.

However, before I could get the food to her mouth, the sound of a very familiar and unpleasant voice was heard several feet away from us. "Damian..."

Roxanne opened her eyes, and both of us looked instantly annoyed, as we recognized that voice right away. The two of us turned just in time to see Motoyasu throw his glove down in front of me, looking at me with great distaste in his eyes.

"Time to fight." The spear hero said to me in an angry tone, as Myne stood at his side, looking pretty pleased with herself for some reason.

I knew right away that if Myne of all people looked pleased, then something very bad was about to happen. I started bracing myself right away, as I put down my fork, and stood up, turning my attention to Motoyasu for now. "We just finished fighting. Now if you don't mind, me and Roxanne are trying to enjoy our dinner. So beat it."

"I've heard that you've made poor Roxanne your slave, and that she obeys your every command. Is this true?" Motoyasu completely ignored everything I just said, his tone sounding like he might explode at any moment.

I sighed before answering, really not in the mood to deal with this guy. "Not that its any of your business, but what you said is only half true. Yes, Roxanne technically my slave, but our relationship isn't master and servant. We're more like partners. We fight together as equals."

Motoyasu took a step towards me, looking and sounding very displeased with me. "So she is your slave then. Now you listen up! You cant tell me that you think its okay to enslave others!"

I started glaring at him after that, starting to get pretty angry myself, but unlike Motoyasu, I kept my cool. "I offered to remove her slave crest and free her the very moment I bought her, but in case you haven't noticed, demi-humans have no rights in this messed up kingdom. Roxanne's slave crest might seem bad to you, but to her, its more like a form of protection. If she didn't have it, she wouldn't be able to get any decent meals, and any human could put chains on her and turn her into their slave instead, or even kill her on the spot and get away with it. From the sound of it, you don't seem to realize just how bad the demi-humans have it here."

"But we're the heroes of this world! We shouldn't be doing things like buying slaves and you know it!" Motoyasu continued to yell at me, arguing his point.

It became clear to me that Myne hasn't yet told him of the treatment of demi-humans in Melromarc, not that I was surprised by that. "I've told you before. I'm a demon lord first, and a cardinal hero second. So I don't really care what you or anyone else thinks about me or what I choose to do. Besides, its not like I'm the only one with a slave in this kingdom. Ask any demi-human you see walking around town, and they'll tell you that they belong to someone. Probably a human who treats them like garbage. So why don't you go bug one of them instead? I'm sure there's gotta be at least one or two slave owning humans in this room somewhere. Besides, in case you've forgotten, Roxanne hates your guts. And while we're on the subject, how's your finger? I hope it still hurts." I gave him a smirk, and laughed a bit, thinking back to when Roxanne snapped Motoyasu's index finger like a twig.

My laughter made Motoyasu's glare towards me intensify, and made him pull out his spear and point it directly at me. "You probably ordered her to do that! I've also heard that you've been making her fight for you too! But now, your gonna have to man up and fight on your own! You and me are gonna duel, and if I win, you'll set Roxanne free!"

Just then, Roxanne moved out in front of Motoyasu, standing between us, as she pulled out her sword, glaring and pointing it at Motoyasu. "Lord Damian is always nothing but kind and caring towards me! He didn't have to make me fight for him at all! I've always dreamed of becoming a warrior and fighting alongside the shield hero ever since I was a child, and now that I finally have that, I'm not about to let some egotistical human take it away from me! So if its a fight you want, fight me instead! I'm lord Damian's sword after all!"

This made Motoyasu take a step back, but he didn't back down, continuing to grip his spear and point it at me. "Damn you Damian! Still hiding behind Roxanne?! Why don't you be a man and face me yourself?!"

Me and Roxanne continued to glare at him, realizing right then and there that nothing we said would ever get through Motoyasu's thick skull.

By this point, nearly all the eyes on the room were pointed at our little scene, and that's when the king arrived on the scene, stepping through the crowd. "And what may I ask is going on over here?"

Me, Roxanne, Motoyasu, and Myne all turned to King Aultcray once he spoke up, and it was Myne who gave him an explanation. "The shield hero has been using a demi-human slave to fight his battles for him. Sir Motoyasu came over here and requested that the shield hero free her at once, but he refused, so Sir Motoyasu challenged the shield hero to duel. If sir Motoyasu wins, oh pardon me, when sir Motoyasu wins, the slave girl will be set free."

Me and Roxanne turned our glares over to Myne as she spoke to the king, then we both turned to the king, already having a pretty good idea of how he'd respond to all of that.

King Aultcray nodded once Myne finishes speaking, then he turned to me, looking very displeased. "I see. You dare to fight with a demi-human in our kingdom? Even if you are a hero, that goes against our customs, and that it reprehensible. Therefore, I am ordering you to accept sir Motoyasu's challenge."

As the king spoke to me, I started to grit my teeth, my anger rising with every word from his mouth. "Up yours! I don't take orders from humans, especially not from a pathetic coward of a king who just sat on his ass inside his castle while the rest of us were out there fighting for our lives against the wave just a few hours ago!"

My response made the king start to get angry too, as several knights pulled out their swords and started pointing them at me.

But before anyone could say or do anything more, Itsuki and Ren suddenly stepped in, both of their eyes locked on me. "If I may, you weren't anywhere near the battlefield either Damian, so you've got no room to talk." Itsuki said to me, having not seen me during the final battle with the boss monster of the second wave.

"That's right. No one saw any sign of you on the front lines, and now we learn that you've got a slave in your party? Just how long are you prepared to go?" Ren added, not sounding very pleased with me himself.

I turned to them, then took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. "As low as it takes. Anyway, for your information, I did fight in this wave. Very hard too. Me and Roxanne both did. You just didn't see us because we never made it to the front lines. We were busy protecting Lute village and its people. Something none of you bothered to do, so we had to work twice, maybe even three times as hard."

"Its true!" Everyone heard a new voice, then turned to see the mayor of Lute village walking over, accompanied by his wife, and several other high ranking people from their village. "If it weren't for the efforts of the shield hero and his brave companion, our entire village would've been destroyed, and everyone in it would have been killed. True, there were still quite a few casualties, and much of our village now lies in ruin, but things would've been far worse without their help. Everyone in our village is very grateful to the shield hero and his companion. None of us hold any ill will against them for the damage that was done."

"If anyone should be held responsible for what happened to our village, it should be the royal knights! They caused most of the damage to our homes and businesses with their barrage of fire arrows, and they nearly killed the shield hero and his companion in the process! I saw it all happen with my own eyes!" One of the villagers yelled out, pointing at some of the royal knights that were present in Lute village during the wave.

"Now hold on just a minute! Those two shouldn't be celebrated! I was there! I saw what they did! Because of them, our captain was killed! The shield hero and his companion could've easily saved his life, but they did nothing! They stood by and watched him die!" One of the royal knight's yelled out, glaring right at me and Roxanne, remembering his captain get struck down right before his eyes.

Me and Roxanne turned to the royal knight after that, and I responded to his accusation in a calm and collected tone. "What the hell are you talkin about? We didn't kill him, but if ya ask me, he got what he deserved. In fact, Id say everyone in this room is guilty in at least one regard."

"Guilty for what?! We are royal knights! We always put the people first! Our captain had a family! What am I supposed to tell them?!" The royal knight yelled at me, feeling anything but calm and collected.

"Always put the people first, huh? He had a family, huh? Well what about the people and families of Rurorona village?" Roxanne asked the royal knight, her head down, her arms shaking with rage, as she looked ready to explode at any second.

The royal knight, his squad, and several others turned their attention to Roxanne, looking at her with confusion. "Where?"

After that, Roxanne looked at them again, giving the royal knights and the king an extremely angry glare, as some tears appeared in her eyes as she yelled out. "Rurorona village! It was a small village located near the coast! It was a place where demi-humans could call home in this corrupt kingdom of yours, but it was destroyed when the first wave of catastrophe hit! Many demi-humans lost their lives, and those that survived lost their homes and their families! And if that wasn't bad enough, all the survivors were then captured by you humans and sold into slavery! Where the hell were you royal knights back then, huh?! I guess the lives of a bunch of filthy demi-humans weren't important enough for you! This kingdom may view us as nothing more then monsters, but we're living beings! Living beings with names, loved ones, and feelings! So I don't give a damn about your captain or his family! You didn't give a damn about us, so why should I give a damn about any of you?!" She finally finished her explosion, then started to breath heavily, using a napkin to dry the tears around her eyes.

Silence fell over the whole room for a full minute after that, as nearly everyone was in a state of shock. No one had ever expected a demi-human to speak out against the king and the royal knights the way Roxanne just did.

The king is the one who eventually breaks the silence, turning his attention back to me. "I've heard enough! The duel between sir Motoyasu and the shield hero will take place in the castle arena in one hour! When sir Motoyasu wins, the shield hero's demi-human slave will be set free! But if you refuse, shield hero, I shall take her from you be force."

The king's words made everyone snap out of the shock caused by Roxanne, and a large number of royal knights quickly surrounded me and Roxanne, pointing their weapons at us, leaving us absolutely no room to even try to escape.

Me and Roxanne glared at the king once more, as I moved out in front of her, not wanting the royal knights anywhere near her. After quickly looking around the room once more, and assessing our situation, I let out a sigh. "Fine. Ill accept the challenge, not that I've got a choice. However, I have two conditions. First, nobody lays a hand on Roxanne until the duel is over, and she stays with me until the duel begins. Two, if I win, me and Roxanne get all of Motoyasu's reward money from the wave, as well as any drops he got from the boss monster."

My terms made Motoyasu glare at me, as it became his turn to speak up. "You don't get to make demands here, Damian! There's no way you can get out of this! Besides, you cant beat me anyway!"

I turned to him after hearing that, forming a smirk on my face. "If you're so sure of yourself, then why not agree to these terms? Maybe you're chicken. Too afraid to lose your shit. If its that important to you, you can still walk away and save yourself the embarrassment of being defeated in front of all these people. So what's it gonna be?"

Motoyasu continued to glare at me, but still managed to calm himself down a little. "Fine then. If you win, you get my reward money, and everything I got from the chimera, but there's no way that'll happen. So don't start counting the money just yet Damian."

I continued to smirk at Motoyasu, not saying another word, but thinking a few to myself. _"Tch. Idiot. I knew that would get ya."_

"It is decided! And of course, everyone present here is more then welcome to watch the duel between the spear hero and the shield hero! Until then, my knights will make sure the shield hero and his slave don't leave the castle!" The king spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, and most of the people in the room started getting excited, already looking forward to this bout between heroes.

But no one looked more pleased then Myne, as she walked over to the king, and gave him a smile. "Thank you papa. I knew you'd make the right decision."

King Aultcray turned to face Myne, and returned her smile, nodding at her as well. "No Malty, thank you. Once again you've taken action in the name of our kingdom. We are truly fortunate to have a princess like you."

Hearing this, me and Roxanne both turned back to the king and Myne, slowly processing everything we'd just heard. "Wait a minute...Papa? Malty? Oh my Lucifer..."

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised too when I first found out that Myne was the king's daughter. To think I've got a real princess in my party." Motoyasu clarified this for me, with a big smile on his face, as he sounded very proud of himself.

"Its true. My real name is Malty S Melromarc, and I'm the first princess of this kingdom, but I use my power and status for the good of the kingdom. Myne is just my adventurer name." Malty added, giving me another of her evil smirks, giggling a few times as well.

Me and Roxanne listened to her, then glanced at each other for a moment, nodding at each other, as we were both thinking the exact same thing at that moment. From there, I took a deep breath, collected my thoughts, and turned back to the king. "I see. That's interesting. Now if you'll excuse us, I need to go prepare myself for this duel, and as we've agreed, Roxanne is not to leave my side. Don't worry, we wont run. As if Id be intimidated by some spoiled princess' cheap, dollar store puppet." After throwing my final insult at Motoyasu, I turned, and started making my way through the crowd and out of the room, with Roxanne following close behind me, sticking her tongue out at Malty just before we exited the room.

Everyone in the room watched us leave, as Motoyasu got one last glare in before I was out of sight. He then swore to Malty and the king that he wouldn't lose to me, and they both smiled at him, very sure that we wouldn't lose either.

X

After leaving the room the party was taking place in, me and Roxanne headed up to one of the castle's towers, which I was positive would be empty at this time. It was, but just to be safe, we did a quick double check after we arrived. Once I was sure that we were alone, I released all the pent up anger and rage Id been keeping bottled up inside ever since I found out who Myne really was, and punched the wall as hard as I could.

Roxanne wasn't too surprised by this, remembering the story of how I became a criminal in Melromarc. "Well, that certainly explains a lot."

I clenched my fist tightly, thinking back to the day Myne, or rather Malty, accused me. "It does. The princess and the king probably had this whole thing planned out before they even summoned me, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki to this world. First the princess tried to get close to me, and when that failed, she openly framed me. The whole trial was rigged. With her father, the king, as the judge, it didn't matter if anything I said was true or not. With his power and status, it was easy for him to fix the trial so that Id end up guilty no matter what. All his precious daughter had to do was play innocent the whole time. And it looks like their still not done trying to screw me over."

Roxanne listened to me, nodded, then spoke her own thoughts on the subject. "That's what it looks like to me. Of course, what else could be expected from humans? Especially royalty. This duel was probably their idea too."

I turned back to her at that point, nodding in full agreement with her. "Of course it is. Since their rigged trial didn't get rid of me, their using Motoyasu to try to get rid of you Roxanne. I don't mean to put a damper on things, but if I lose, you wont be my slave anymore, and that's exactly what Malty and the king want. Since demi-humans have no rights in this kingdom, the second you lose your slave crest, they can put new chains on you, or even kill you on the spot. After that, Ill be alone again, with no one to help me level up and get stronger. So when the next wave comes around, even if I run away to the other side of the world, my status as one of the cardinal heroes will automatically transport me to the battlefield, and with my low level, Ill die too."

Roxanne kept listening to me, then slowly looked down, feeling both sad and frightened by those thoughts. "...I know. This is why I wanted to keep my slave crest in the first place. To most demi-humans, a slave crest is a terrible curse, but to me, it represents freedom, loyalty, and the bond I share with you lord Damian."

Seeing this, I walked over to her, placed my hand on top of her head, and started to rub gently. "Don't worry Roxanne. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. As your shield, I will keep you safe. The only way we get out of this is if I win this duel, so I wont lose. Ill beat the crap out of Motoyasu, then you and I will walk out of here with all of his money and boss loot."

Feeling my hand on top of her head, Roxanne looked at me again, as my words slowly but surely started to reassure her, making her blush and smile at the same time. "Thank you lord Damian. That does make me feel safe, but do you really think you can beat the spear hero? I mean, he's a complete idiot, but he's still way higher leveled then you are now."

I grinned at her, already having a few plans floating around inside my head. "Remember who I am Roxanne. I'm the demon lord, Damian Abyss. Still, I'm almost positive that Malty and the king will try to rig the match against me somehow, just like they rigged the trial."

"Yeah, I wouldn't put it passed them at this point. That's actually the one thing I still don't understand. Why do they hate you so much? Why are they so determined to see you fail? Why you of all people? I mean, you're one of the four cardinal heroes of legend, and from the stories you've told me, you haven't done anything bad to them. So I just cant understand why they're out to get you." Roxanne stated the one thing that still had her puzzled, looking very confused on the whole matter.

At her questions, I could only shrug, as I still had no idea of the answer to any of that myself. "Who knows? But for what ever reason, I'm their target, and they'll likely keep coming after me until either I'm dead, or they're dead. Unfortunately, I don't have the power to do away with them right now, but I do have an idea of what to do if and when they start cheating. Ill need your help though Roxanne. What I need you to do is..." Before saying another word, I quickly removed my hand from the top of Roxanne's head, and checked to make sure that no one was listening in. I know me and Roxanne checked earlier, but I just wanted to be sure we weren't followed. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I leaned in, and whispered my plan to Roxanne.

Roxanne leaned closer to me as well, listening closely to my every word, nodding a few times too. My plan surprised her a little, as she let out a small gasp, then looked at me again once I finished speaking. "Do you really think that'll work, lord Damian?"

I grinned at her and nodded once more, sounding very sure of myself and my plan. "Absolutely positive Roxanne. But remember, don't do anything until I give you the signal. Okay?"

Roxanne nodded back at me, still looking a bit unsure though. "I understand, lord Damian, but doesn't it seem a little...off to stoop to their level?"

I lost my grin after hearing this from her, then I let out another sigh. "Its not like I enjoy doing this, but they started this Roxanne. And when people play dirty, sometimes ya gotta play dirty back. Besides, this beats the alternative."

Roxanne thought to herself about everything that would happen if I lost this duel again, and those thoughts quickly made her cringe, shake, and let out another gasp, as her ears folded down with fear. "Yeah, okay. I'm in. Lets do it."

"Good. Glad we're on the same page Roxanne. But don't worry. I wont give you the signal unless I catch them cheating first. I'm sure that I can beat Motoyasu otherwise." I said to her in my best reassuring tone, but I was still feeling a little nervous myself, picturing the worst case scenario in my head a few times too.

"I know you can. I have faith in you, lord Damian. So get out there and win, then lets finally collect our reward and get the hell out of here." Roxanne spoke to me in a confident tone, looking at me with an expression to match.

I looked straight back into her eyes, nodded one more time, then gave her the best confident smile I could muster. "Thanks Roxanne. We'll definitely walk out of this place together."

Roxanne smiled back at me, then the two of us spent most of the hour before the duel doing some prep work, discussing battle strategies to use against Motoyasu. Once we were done, the hour was nearly up, so we left the tower, met up with some knights, and they escorted us to the castle's arena.

X

Upon arriving at the arena, me and Roxanne were forced to split up, with the knights insisting that Roxanne watch from the stands above the arena. Naturally, neither of us wanted to be split up like this, but it was necessary if our plan was going to work. So after one last "good luck" from Roxanne, she left to go find a seat in the stands, while the knights escorted me through one of the sets of doors that lead to the arena. They told me to wait for the doors to the arena to open, and that the spear hero was waiting on the opposite side of the arena. After that, the knights left me in a room filled with all kinds of weapons. Swords, staffs, spears, and much more, but no shields I noticed.

I didn't find this to be all that odd though, since shields were the only type of weapon I was able to use, and the king probably rigged this duel too. Additionally, I figured that Motoyasu's waiting room was probably stocked with dozens and dozens of spears for him to make use of. I didn't let any of my assumptions get to me though, as I already had a few tricks of my own planned for this duel.

While I waited, I could hear someone outside, likely in the stands, announcing the rules of the duel for everyone in the audience. "The one on one duel between the spear hero and the shield hero is about to begin! This duel will be decided only when one of these two combatants either falls, or admits that he can no longer continue!"

_"No way either of those things will happen to me. I will not lose to that moron." _I thought to myself, hearing every word the announcer was saying. Several seconds later, the doors to the arena opens on both sides, and me and Motoyasu walked out onto our battlefield, with the stands around the arena packed with nobles, adventurers, knights, and a few familiar faces, including Roxanne, Ren, Itsuki, their parties, Malty, the king, and the mayor and villagers of Lute village.

"This duel will take place in the presence of king Melromarc, and the pope! Thus, it is both legitimate and official!" The announcer addressed the crowd once more, gesturing to the king and the pope, respectively.

As I entered the arena and heard this, I glanced at the pope, and let out a small, annoyed sigh. _"Heaven's followers..."_

Meanwhile, Motoyasu smiled and waved to the crowd as he entered the arena, and Malty smiled back at him, wishing him the best of luck.

Me and Motoyasu soon came to a stop on our respective sides of the arena, and took a moment of silence to stare each other down. After a good ten seconds of silence, it was Motoyasu who broke it. "Hey, you ever heard that old folktale about the irresistible spear and the immovable shield?"

"Actually yeah, I have heard that one, and in it, the spear lost against the shield. So what's your point?" I asked him, sounding annoyed at his rather stupid question.

Motoyasu then started to show off, spinning his spear all around himself, before pointing it right at me. "My point is that this duel wont end the same way, so be a man and admit defeat, Damian."

I sighed at his shameful display of skill, then grinned, deciding to put on a little show of my own. I struck my demon lord pose, covering my left eye with one hand. "Haven't you been paying attention, Motoyasu? I'm no man. I'm a demon lord! And we don't admit defeat, especially to weak humans like you! So why don't you be a man and admit defeat, Motoyasu?"

Motoyasu glared at me, gripping his spear, refusing to back down. "Hell no. Ill enjoy using this duel as an excuse to beat some sense into that head of yours Damian! If ya ask me, its about time someone did!"

I stopped posing, but kept my grin, as I could see that my first plan was already starting to work. I then held out my shield in front of me, and changed it into its Light Metal form, as I took a battle ready stance.

On his side of the arena, Motoyasu did the same. He changed his spear into another form, then took his own battle ready stance.

"Ready...Begin!" The announcer made the call, and just like that, the duel had begun.

As expected, Motoyasu charged right in without hesitation, trying to strike me with his spear right away.

"Tch. How predictable." Still grinning at him, I didn't even try to block his attack, and just dodged to the right.

Motoyasu glared at me once more, then attempted to strike me again, putting a great deal of strength into his thrust.

But just like before, I dodged his attack, this time to the left. "What the hell are you doing? Have you ever done this before? Your moves are so predictable and easy to read Motoyasu. All have to do to dodge them is keep moving. Maybe you should stick to fighting lower leveled monsters instead. Id say their about the right level of intelligence for someone as simple minded as you, but that would be insulting to monsters." I insulted him in front of the entire crowd, my grin still present on my face.

My insult had exactly the effect I knew it would, as Motoyasu quickly became enraged by my insults, and attempted to spear me several more times, getting faster with each thrust. "Rgh! Take this seriously Damian!"

I was able to dodge his first few strikes, but was forced to use my shield to block the last few. Motoyasu still had yet to inflict any real damage on me though, and I wasn't done insulting him just yet. "Its kinda hard to take someone like you seriously Motoyasu. By the way, maybe you can answer something for me, because I've been curious about it ever since I found out Myne's real name." I used my shield to push him and his spear away, then jumped backwards, continuing to insult and grin at him. "She said it was Malty S Melromarc, right? Well what's the S stand for? Slut? Skank? Succubus? Hmmm...Actually, never mind that last one. That's insulting to succubi."

That insult made Motoyasu furious, as he looked about ready to kill me. "Who the hell do you think you are?! You cant talk about Myne like that! She's a princess! Take this! Chaos Spear!" With his spear glowing with energy, Motoyasu charged at me again, and unleashed a barrage of high speed thrusts.

Seeing this, I quickly raised my shield again, bracing myself for his attack. I did my best to deflect or dodge each of his thrusts, and I did manage to avoid most of them, but he still got me in my left shoulder and right leg, drawing blood, and making me grit my teeth and wince a little too.

All the while, Roxanne watched from her seat in the stands, which she made sure was well enough away from anyone else. "Come on, lord Damian. You can do this." She said to herself, with her fists clenched tightly, as she really hoped that she was right about that.

When Motoyasu's attack finally ended, both me and him took a few deep breaths, keeping our eyes locked on each other. And despite the fact that I was the only one who'd taken any damage so far, I continued to egg him on, my grin ever present. "C'mon. Is that the best you can do? Ren and Itsuki must've done all the heavy lifting against the boss monster. Am I right?"

Motoyasu continued to glare at me, growing even more angry with every word from my mouth. "Rgh...Ill show you!" He changed his spear into a different form, then began to build up massive energy in it, as he slowly started moving backwards, putting more distance between us.

I grinned once more when I saw this, believing that Id finally gotten the result I was hoping for. _"That's right. Let me have it, ya sucker." _I held my shield out in front of me once more, bracing myself for Motoyasu's next attack, which I was sure would be a non-physical one, based on how much distance he'd put between us.

"This should shut you up for good! Meteor Thrust!" Motoyasu thrusts his spear towards me, and fires a beam of energy from it, putting lots of power behind this attack.

"Ya know Motoyasu, you are an idiot! A gullible idiot! Mirror Shield!" A split second after Motoyasu fires his Meteor Thrust at me, I switch over to my Mirror Shield. The attack makes contact with my shield, and I'm forced to really dig in my heels just to keep from getting blown off my feet. "Not bad, for an amateur! Now enjoy a taste of your own medicine, ya ego maniac!" My shield deflects Motoyasu's attack, sending it right back at him, much to everyone's shock.

"What the hell?!" Is all Motoyasu has time to say, watching with wide eyes, as his own attack hits him right in the middle of his chest, causing him massive damage.

"Sir Motoyasu!" Malty calls out to her hero from her place in the stands, more shocked then anyone else at this result.

When the dust finally settled, Motoyasu was slouched over in pain, breathing heavily, and coughing up some blood, as his own attack had left a wound on his chest.

"Wow. That looks like it hurts. Too bad ya didn't have a shield to protect yourself with. Gotta say, letting me goad you into using one of your strongest attacks against me was pretty stupid, but also fully expected. Hostility is the calling card of a weak mind." I said as I walked over to him, switching back to my Light Metal Shield. I then stopped right in front of him, grinned again, and cracked my knuckles, letting out a few laughs as well. "Now its my turn."

Motoyasu looked at me just in time to see me punch him in the face with all my strength, slamming the side of my shield into his nose on the first strike. "AH!" The spear hero let out a gasp of pain, bringing one hand to his nose, as it too started bleeding from the impact.

I was far from done though, as I threw several more punches at him, all aimed at his head, as well as the new wound on his chest. "Ya like that?! I don't just level myself up every day ya know! I also spend a good amount of time exercising every single day too! Never thought much about training your body in addition to your stats, did ya?!" I made sure to give Motoyasu at least one good punch to his jaw, knowing that the human brain goes dizzy if the jaw is struck hard enough.

And it worked, as Motoyasu stumbled backwards, having to use his spear to keep himself up, as he tried desperately to regain his senses.

I wasn't about to give him time to recover though, so I decided that it was time for my next plan of attack. As expected, my punches might've knocked him for a loop, but they did very little damage to Motoyasu's HP. Fortunately, I still had a few things on me that could accomplish that. Literally. "Oh c'mon Motoyasu. That didn't hurt, but this might." From under my cloak, I pulled out one of my orange balloon monster friends, and tossed it right at him.

The balloon growled, and once it reached Motoyasu, it bit down on his right arm with all its might.

Much of the crowd was once again surprised by this, not expecting to see a monster during a duel between heroes. Many people in the audience began to comment on my conduct so far, stating that I had no respect for the sanctity of a duel, but I didn't let any of their comments bother me even a little, as I opened my cloak to reveal several more balloon monsters on my body, receiving several gasps from the nobles in the stands.

The bite from the balloon was more then enough for Motoyasu to regain his senses, as he pulled the balloon off of his body, popped it with his spear, then glared at me again, wiping the blood from under his nose. "Now your using monsters to fight for you too? Are you kidding me?!"

"Nope. In fact, I'm more serious then I've ever been. My attacks might not do any significant damage, but I've still got plenty of ways to fight back against you and win this duel." I said to him, grabbing another balloon off my body, and throwing it at him, aiming for his chest wound this time.

"Like hell you will!" It seemed Motoyasu still had plenty of fight left in him though, as he used his spear to pop the balloon before it got anywhere near him that time. "Ill admit, you surprised me with that Mirror Shield of yours, but I wont fall for the same trick twice!"

As he yelled at me, I quickly changed shields, going with my Pipe Shield this time. "Good thing I've got more tricks then! Now go get him guys! Shield Prison!" I tossed all of my remaining balloons at Motoyasu, while also casting my Shield Prison spell at the same time, causing the balloons to get trapped inside the spell with him.

Inside my Shield Prison, it took Motoyasu a moment to adjust his eyes to the new level of darkness he found himself in, but once he did, he found several pairs of glowing red eyes staring back at him through said darkness. The balloons started growling right away, and attacked him without rest. "Ow! Quit! Hey! That hurts! Damn you Damian! Let me out of here!"

I started smirking when I heard Motoyasu's voice from inside my Shield Prison, as I walked over to it, and grabbed one of the chains on the outside. "Happy to Motoyasu, but before that, how about we go for a little spin?" Gripping the chain, I started spinning the Shield Prison around like a giant ball, making it spin faster and faster with each push.

Not long after the spinning started, Motoyasu began to feel very dizzy again, yelling at me through my spell once more. "Woah! Hey! This isn't funny! Make it stop! I'm gonna be sick!"

"Oh, why stop now Motoyasu! Your on a roll! Shield Bash!" I filled my shield with magic power, then struck my Shield Prison with is has hard as I could, making it start to roll to the other side of the arena with Motoyasu still inside.

Nearly everyone in the crowd who saw this was surprised again, seeing that I had the upper hand, and some even started to believe that I might actually win the duel. Many of the nobles were still bad mouthing me though, and for some reason, the king didn't look worried at all.

I didn't notice any of this though, as my focus was totally on my Shield Prison. I laughed a bit more as Motoyasu shouted from the inside, finding this to be very entertaining.

The spell finally came to an end when it struck the wall on the opposite side of the arena, disappearing, and freeing Motoyasu. The spear hero wobbled all around, clearly very dizzy, as he did his best to stay on his feet. Unfortunately, he failed, falling to his knees, and looking about ready to puke, as he took a moment to catch his breath and wait for the world to stop spinning around him.

I looked over at him, then saw that two of my balloons had survived their time inside my Shield Prison with Motoyasu, currently rolling around where the spell had come to an end.

After walking over to pick them up and put them back under my cloak, I turned my attention back to Motoyasu, walking over and looking down at him. "Ready to quit, or would you rather that I made an even bigger fool of you in front of all these people?"

Motoyasu continued to breath heavily, as the spinning finally stopped, and he glared up at me. "...There's no way Id ever concede, especially not to you."

I shrugged at him when I heard his answer, then grabbed and pulled out my balloon friends yet again. "Suit yourself. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but it looks I'm destroy your spear. Oh, and I'm not talking about the one in your hand."

Motoyasu quickly understood what I meant, and looked up at me and my balloons with fear. "No! Don't! Stay away from me!"

Just then, without any kind of warning, a strong wind magic spell hit me from behind, sending me flying several feet, hitting the ground hard once it was over. During the surprise attack, I also dropped my balloons, as they were now rolling freely around the arena. "...Urgh...What the hell was that?" I slowly got back up, then looked around to see who or what hit me.

It didn't take me very long to find the answer, as my eyes stopped on Malty. She stood against the wall across the arena, smirking at me, her hand glowing with magic power. For some reason, nobody in the audience noticed this, or they just didn't seem to care.

I glared at the princess when I saw her, realizing that my suspicions were right all along. "So that's how it is, huh? Fine then. Two can play that game." As I started to catch my breath, I raised my shield, then tapped it with the knuckles of my free hand three times.

Up in the stands, Roxanne saw this, and quickly recognized it as the signal I told her about during our strategy meeting. She then took a moment to look around, noticing Malty down in the arena. The kitsune glared at her, easily able to piece together what had happened. _"Looks like lord Damian was right. Time to fight fire with fire. Lets how you humans do against this." _Focusing her own magic power, Roxanne's eyes started to glow, and since she was seated so far away from everyone else, nobody noticed.

By this time, Motoyasu had gotten back on his feet, and looked ready for another round. So he turned towards me, gripping his spear, and charged in one more time. "Its over Damian! Your finished!"

I turned back to him, and got my grin back again. "Yeah. Its over, for you. Shield Squad!" Out of seemingly no where, a bunch of copies of me started appearing, as I made it look and sound like my handy work.

In reality, these copies were actually nothing more then illusions created by Roxanne, and they were perfect copies of me. Down to the last detail. When she finally stopped making copies of me, there were a total of twenty of me down in the arena, as I mixed myself in among my copies during the confusion.

Motoyasu came to a complete stop when he saw this, his eyes going wide with shock. "What the...How can..." He couldn't even finish his thoughts, as he had no idea what was going on.

It was the same for everyone in the crowd too, as they all shared Motoyasu's immense shock and confusion. Even Ren, Itsuki, Malty, and the king never expected this, and had now fallen speechless as they watched it happen.

Roxanne kept the illusions going, making the copies' actions and shields match my own perfectly. _"Since the people of Melromarc don't think much of us demi-humans, it makes sense that none of them know what's going on. They probably haven't the slightest idea of our natural abilities and powers at all, but you'd better hurry, lord Damian. I can only keep this up for about one minute." _Unlike when she cast her illusions during the wave, Roxanne had regained all of her lost magic power since then, and was now working with a full tank. Plus, this time, she didn't make as many illusions as she did back then. As such, she was able to maintain these illusions for double the time she could back then. Still, even this many was taxing for her, but she was determined to keep it going as long as possible.

I knew all of this though, as Roxanne made sure to explain it all to me during our strategy meeting. So, with all of that in mind, I sprang into action, not wanting to waste even a single second. "Try not to cry Motoyasu." I said to him, as me and my copies switched to our Rope Shields. "Air Strike Shield!" Me and my copies made our spells appear flat in the air in front of us, then sent all twenty of them flying right at Motoyasu.

With his level of shock and confusion, Motoyasu just stood there, not sure what to do. He tried swinging his spear to knock a few Air Strike Shields down, but since they were all illusions, his spear didn't do a thing, confusing him even more. However, that confusion quickly turned into pain, as the real Air Strike Shield slammed right into his stomach, making him gasp and cough up some more blood.

While he was reeling, Roxanne made my copies run around Motoyasu, dividing his attention. All the while, I grabbed my two balloon friends, and put them back under my cloak, knowing Id need them for later.

As soon as Motoyasu finally stopped holding his stomach in pain, he looked around at all my copies running all around the arena around him. This made him glare, as he changed his spear back into the form it was in at the start of the duel. "I don't know what sort of cheap trick your using, but it wont beat me! Ill mow you all down at once! Chaos Spear!" Using the same skill he'd used before, Motoyasu attempted to strike every copy of me he saw, but just like before, his attacks passed right through them, like they weren't even there, which they weren't, but he still hadn't figured that out yet, and kept attacking without rest.

I kept smirking as I watched this, hidden among my copies, waiting for Motoyasu's skill to end before moving in. Once it did, me and my copies moved in close, forming a large circle around Motoyasu.

Motoyasu looked like he was started to run out of breath, as he looked around, seeing that he was now surrounded. "Come on Damian! You gotta fight fair! This is supposed to be one on one!"

"Tell that to your princess!" As I spoke, Roxanne made the mouths of all my copies move too. She couldn't make any sound come out of their mouths, but it helped keep Motoyasu and Malty from figuring out which one of me was the real deal. Me and my copies then held our shields out to Motoyasu on all sides, and changed them into our Two Headed Black Dog Shields. "Now go, Dog Bite!" The two dog heads let out some loud growls, as every single dog head all around Motoyasu extended out, and sank their fangs into a different part of his body. The real ones had their jaws around his legs, making it so he couldn't get away, and cause some damage at the same time.

While all the other dog heads weren't real, being in the middle of a growling pack of dogs still freaked Motoyasu out, and he still found himself wincing in pain from the bites of the real ones. "Ah! Get off of me!" He started struggling in the middle of all the dog heads, but as the shock slowly started to wear off, he finally realized that most of the copies of me were fakes. "Wait a minute...Very clever Damian, but the real you is still among these fakes somewhere! And when I find you, your done!" He changed his spear's form once again, and activated another of his skills, starting to building up massive amounts of electricity in his spear. "Lightning Spear!" He thrust his spear forward, then started to move around in a circle, as the lightning continued to flow from his spear, striking every single copy he turned to.

Fortunately for me, my two real dog heads kept his movements slow, which gave me just enough time to set up for what I hoped would be my finished move. While the dog heads kept the jaws on Motoyasu's legs, I grabbed my balloons once more, and threw them down onto the ground between me and Motoyasu. "Sorry about this guys." I ran straight for the pair of balloons, then jumped on top of them, using them like spring boards to shoot me into the air. I only managed to get a little above Motoyasu, but that was all I needed. While in the air, I quickly changed back to my Light Metal Shield, forcing my dog heads to let him go, as they both vanished.

Roxanne didn't do the same for the copies though, making all of them keep their Two Headed Black Dog Shields out, as the mass of extended dog heads were good for obscuring Motoyasu's vision, keeping him from noticing what I was up to. However, she did send three copies away from Motoyasu and over to Malty, using them to keep her distracted and make sure she wouldn't interfere again.

Malty started glaring and swinging her arms at my copies right away, trying to make them go away. "Hey! Get away from me! Go away!"

Motoyasu did notice that the pain in his legs had lessened, and he got his mobility back, but his attention was divided even further when he'd heard the sound of Malty's voice in the arena. "Myne?! What are you doing down here?! Its not safe!" He yelled out to her, continuing to attack my copies with his Lightning Spear, but it was already too late for him to do or try anything else.

In the few seconds I was in the air, I gripped my shield with both hands, aimed it down at Motoyasu, then poured all the magic power I had left into it. "This ones for you Roxanne! Shield Missile!" I dived straight down at Motoyasu, slamming my shield right on top of his head, putting all of my strength, body weight, and magic power behind the strike.

The second my shield made contact with the top of Motoyasu's head, a loud banging sound echoed through the area, followed by complete silence. Both me and Motoyasu fell to the ground after that, as Roxanne made all of the copies of me disappear. Time was up, and she hoped more then anything that Motoyasu wouldn't get back up.

Seconds later, I slowly got back on my feet, then looked down at Motoyasu, wondering if that did the trick. Just to be safe, I kept my shield raised, and my guard up, as I slowly approached him to get a better look. What I saw when I looked down at him was that Motoyasu's eyes were now closed, and he had a rather large bump on top of his head. He was still breathing, but he wasn't showing any signs of getting back up, or regaining consciousness. The spear hero was out cold.

Apart from Roxanne, everyone in the audience was stunned by this, as some even thought that it wasn't real. This was especially true for Malty and the king, as they both shot me some rather frightening glares once the shock wore off.

I ignored them all though, and smiled, raising my shield in the air. "The spear hero has fallen! Victory goes to me! The one and only demon lord and shield hero, Damian Abyss!"

As expected, I got more then a few "Boos" and other negative feedback from the audience as a result, but Roxanne was definitely happy with my victory. She smiled down at me, letting out a deep breath, feeling as if a massive weight was just lifted from her spirit, as all of her worries and fears slowly faded away.

At first, the king was extremely reluctant to call the match, but then he heard the voice of the pope, speaking to him from his seat in the stands. "Well? Go on, your majesty. The duel is over, and the victor is clear." The pope had a smile on his face for some reason, seeming to be very calm, despite everything that had just taken place.

King Aultcray heard the pope's words, then grit his teeth, grumbling in anger for a moment, before reluctantly standing up and announcing the end of the duel. "It would seem...the spear hero, Sir Motoyasu, can no longer continue! As such, the winner of the duel is...the shield hero!" He cursed under his breath after saying that out loud, never even imaging that Id come out the victor.

I couldn't help but grin one more time when Id heard this from the king, as I looked down at Motoyasu once more, then spit right down on his face. "Ill collect my winnings after you wake up, so try not to keep me waiting." I then turned my attention to Malty, as she continued to glare at me. "Oh, what's wrong princess? Upset that your little plan did work? Well too bad! Roxanne stays with me, and you can go piss off! But for right now, why don't you make yourself useful, and clean up this trash?" I asked her, gesturing to Motoyasu.

Malty let out a huff, then proceeded to start yelling at me. "You cheated! I know it! There's no way you could've ever defeated sir Motoyasu otherwise! Besides, this was supposed to be a one on one duel! You were hiding monsters under your cloak, and used them to help you fight!"

I grin didn't falter, as I responded to her in a calm and collected tone, walking closer to her as I spoke. "I didn't cheat at all, but I know that you did. Even with your help, Motoyasu still lost. And as for using monsters, here in Melromarc, you people look down on demi-humans and monsters, viewing them as nothing more then slaves or tools. So I fail to see how using monsters is against the rules. Try not to be a sore loser, and accept your defeat with dignity and grace, like a true princess should."

"Rgh...How dare you! Ill teach you not to disrespect the royal family!" Malty got even angrier, and prepared to fire another magic spell at me.

However, just before she did, Roxanne suddenly jumped down into the arena, and struck Malty's arm with the broadside of her sword, stopping her attack cold. Roxanne then stood between us, pointed her sword at the princess, and gave her a threatening glare. "The duel is over. Lord Damian won. Now just walk away, or you and I will end up fighting next. And just like lord Damian, I wont lose."

Malty winced when Roxanne hit her with her sword, holding her arm in pain, listening to Roxanne's threats, while looking straight into her eyes. "You ungrateful demi-human, sir Motoyasu was fighting for your freedom! Show some gratitude!"

"Don't think I don't know what your true motives were! We demi-humans aren't as stupid as you humans make us out to be! You just wanted me out of the picture so lord Damian wouldn't have anyone to fight with him anymore! Your a liar and a cheat! Lord Damian is more of a hero then the spear hero will ever be! Lord Damian always makes sure that I'm well fed, healthy, and strong! The spear hero, Motoyasu is incapable of such kindness! If he were, he would've never allowed a two faced witch like you into his party!" Roxanne yelled back at her, each of her words more serious then the one before it.

"I've had enough of you, you damn demi-human!" Malty was about to fire another magic spell at Roxanne, but then two familiar faces entered the arena, stopping her.

"That's enough!" Itsuki and Ren made their way into the arena, and were quick to break up this fight.

Me, Roxanne, and Malty all turned to them after hearing Itsuki's voice, all of us falling silent, as Roxanne put her sword away and moved over to my side.

"I cant speak for Damian, but you definitely interfered in that duel princess. Its clear that during the duel, Damian was struck by a powerful magic spell." Itsuki explained to her, remembering it very clearly.

Malty just scoffed and turned away, trying to play innocent like usual. "I'm sure I don't know what your talking about. No one saw anything like that."

"The king asked everyone to keep quiet about it, but even some nobles agree that there was foul play in this duel. To think that royalty would violate the rules of a sacred duel." Ren responded, having heard more the a few whispers among the nobles on his way down from the stands.

The king hears all of this, then just turns away, not saying a word on the subject.

Ren and Itsuki then turn to me, as Itsuki asks me another question. "What about you Damian? That spell of yours, Shield Squad, was that really your doing?"

I looked back at him and Ren, nodding at them, not letting any doubt show in my voice. "It was. I can only do it for about a minute at a time, but its quite effective, as you've seen." I was lying of course, but Malty cheated first. Me and Roxanne only did what we did to level the playing field. Still, I kept all of that to myself, at least for now.

"Well then I guess you won. Pretty impressive, considering Motoyasu had twenty levels on you." Ren said to me, and what he said was true. My level was currently 23, while Motoyasu's was 43.

I let out a few laughs, then struck my demon lord pose for them. "I guess I'm just that good. Its like they say. Never mess with a demon lord."

"Who says that?" Itsuki asked me, having never heard that expression in his life even once.

"The demon lord, Damian Abyss. That's who." I answered him, keeping my grin and my pose going.

"I knew he'd say that." Ren said with a sigh, crossing his arms, as he and Itsuki both kind of hated that they were getting used to my whole "demon lord" shtick by this point.

After that, I stopped posing, and turned to face the king, the pope, and all the nobles in the crowd. "And as for all you demon and shield hating humans here today, never forget what you've seen here! If one of your three great heroes cant beat me, then what hope do the rest of you piss ants have?! So the next time any of you even thinks about crossing me or my party, you best think twice, or risk ending up like the spear hero here! Or worse!" I yelled out at every human that was present, pointing down at the defeated Motoyasu as I did.

The crowd had fallen silent once again, but my attention was quickly turned to some tugging that I felt on my cloak. I turned and looked down to see what was causing this, and was both surprised and happy to see the two balloons that had survived the battle. Somehow, they'd found their way back to me, and were now nibbling on my cloak. "Hey you two. I was gonna come and get ya, but I guess you got me." I said to them with a smile on my face, as I bent over to pick them up. The pair of balloons growled at me, but I kept my smile and nodded at them, acting like I could actually understand them and they could understand me. "Yeah, you two were great. Thanks so much for all your help. Now get some rest. You've earned it." I put them both back under my cloak, letting them resume their nibbling on my body, still not feeling any pain from it at all.

As I did this, Malty, Ren, Itsuki, and pretty much the whole audience looked at me like I was a freak. A freak who talked to monsters like they were actual people with thoughts and feelings, besides attacking every living creature they saw who wasn't one of their own kind.

No one was sure how to react or respond to this, but one person was able to maintain her composure, and was now smiling at me, as she stood by my side. "Come on, lord Damian. We should go. Its getting late, and I've had just about enough of this place for one day."

I turned to Roxanne upon hearing her voice, and nodded, then I quickly pulled out a potion, and drank it down to help heal my wounds and ease the damage I took during my bout with Motoyasu. "Yeah, it doesn't look like we'll be doing the rewards ceremony tonight anyway, since that one will probably be out until tomorrow." I commented, once again pointing down at the unconscious Motoyasu. Then I turned to face the king once more, raising my voice so he could hear me. "We'll be back for our rewards tomorrow! When Motoyasu wakes up, be sure to tell him that he lost! He knows the terms of our duel! Now me and Roxanne get his reward money, and everything he got for defeating that chimera during the wave!" After that, I smirked once more, then proceeded to leave the arena.

Roxanne continued to smile, and quickly followed me out, as all eyes were on us until we vanished from sight. On our way out, me and Roxanne decided to raid the castle kitchen for party leftovers, since we never did get to finish our dinner. Once we had a pretty good amount of food, we left the castle, deciding to stay in an inn for the night, since we still didn't trust the king, the princess, the knights, or pretty much anyone from the castle as far as we could throw them.

X

We ended up choosing the inn that was closest to the castle, knowing that we'd be going back to the castle tomorrow morning. I paid for our room, then we both headed up to it for the night. After arriving in our room, we made sure to locked the door, and block it with the table in the room, with Malty's previous methods in mind. The two of us decided to have a few late night snacks before bed, dipping into the food we got from the castle's kitchen. After we finish eating, the two of us start getting ready for bed, and Roxanne starts asking me some questions as we do. "Lord Damian, your not too badly hurt, are you?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Motoyasu and the princess got a few good hits in, but the monsters we fought during the wave were much worse." I answered her, then proceeded to begin my work out routine once I was done getting dressed for bed.

Roxanne was quick to join in on the work out routine, asking me another question as we did some push ups. "Speaking of monsters, why exactly did you talk to those balloons, lord Damian? You know they cant understand you, right?"

"Are ya sure about that Roxanne? For that matter, is anyone sure about that? I mean, yes, we fight monsters to gain experience and level up, but is that really all their good for? You saw how helpful those balloons were in my fight against Motoyasu, so maybe monsters are good for more then just fodder, ya know what I mean?" I answered her question with a question, sounding fairly certain about the ideas I had in my head at the time.

My questions surprised Roxanne a bit, as she took a moment to think it over. "Well...to be honest, I never really thought about it before. While it is true that humans can train and domesticate dogs, horses, filolials, and even some dragons, monsters possess hunting and killing instincts not found in those species I just mentioned. I don't think even trained professionals would know where to begin in training a monster. Although, I have to admit, it is an interesting thought, to say the least."

"That's what I'm sayin Roxanne. Just take a minute to imagine it. We've built our kingdom, filled with demi-humans and beastmen, and we've found a way to train monsters. People have them as pets, they help with everyday work, and even fight alongside us in battle. Doesn't that sound cool?" I ask with a big smile on my face, already imagining it myself, as me and her switched to lunges for our next exercise.

Roxanne did as I said, and took a moment to imagine that herself. She was a little unsure at first, but she quickly found herself smiling. "It is kinda weird, but its a good kind of weird. Kinda like you, lord Damian." She made a little joke, glancing at me in between lunges.

Her joke made me laugh a bit, as I glanced back at her. "Well, I am a demon lord. If humans can train things like filolials and dragons, then why cant I train monsters?"

"Well, I have no idea how we're gonna make if happen, but if your serious about it, then Ill support you every step of the way, lord Damian. And who knows? Maybe one day we can make those thoughts a reality too." Roxanne responded to my question, and we soon moved on to our next exercise, then the one after that, then the one after that, and so on.

Pretty soon, we were finally done, and sat down on our respective beds, taking a moment to catch our breath. As soon as my heartrate returned to normal, I turned to face Roxanne again, thinking that it was about time I told her something that Id been meaning to tell her for a while. "Hey Roxanne, I know this is kind of out of nowhere, and it might sound strange, but I think you and I were fated to meet."

Roxanne soon finished catching her breath too, then hears me, and turns to look at me, tilting her head slightly. "Huh? What do you mean, lord Damian?"

I went on to tell her about the dream I had on the day I was summoned to this world in great detail. As I tell her all of this, I started finding it a little hard to believe myself, and I wondered how she'd react to all of this.

Roxanne listened to me closely, rather surprised to hear all of this, but she could tell that I wasn't just making it up. When I was done, she got back on her feet, walked over to my bed, and sat down beside me. "Your right, that is strange, but I think I can feel it too. That we were fated to meet, I mean. Before we met each other, we were both trapped in our own lives, desperately seeking a way out. Of all the times I imagined my life the way I wanted it to be, I admit I rarely imagined others by my side though, but I see now that its better this way. The world might call me your slave, but I trust you, lord Damian. In fact, I think I know you better then anyone in this world, or the one you came from."

I took a deep breath before responding to her, thinking back to my family back in my home world. "Ya know, I think your right Roxanne. Before I met you, no one really understood me. I was treated like an outsider for almost my entire life, but after I came to this world, became the shield hero, and met you, I realized something. Everyday, back when I was on my own, I found myself breaking down all the time, even after coming to this world. But then I met you, and suddenly, it felt like I was set free from the prison Id built around myself. I only got as strong as I am now, and am on the path to making my dreams a reality because of you Roxanne. Fighting monsters, gaining experience, collecting items and materials, even standing up for myself against humans and the duel with Motoyasu. In the end, I've realized that I didn't end up as the shield hero purely by coincidence. I believe its because I was never meant to fight on my own. Not just against monster, but against life as a whole. Does that make sense?"

"Somehow, I think it does. My parents used to tell me that no one is born into this world to be alone, and I think the shield hero is a shining example of that. He cant fight on his own, so he has to rely on others. Some think that makes him weak, but if you ask me, it makes him the strongest. It doesn't matter how powerful someone is. Even if they have all the power in the world, what's the point if they stand alone, with no one?" Roxanne said to me, looking up at the ceiling, and slowly wrapping all three of her tails around my waist.

I was a bit surprised by the feeling of her tails around my waist at first, but it wasn't an unwelcome feeling, as I continued to talk to her. "That's some pretty deep stuff , more then anything else, I'm just glad that your still here with me. While I was fighting against Motoyasu, the only thing I could think about was you. How much I didn't wanna lose you. All the good and not so good times we've had up to this point. And of course, how much you mean to me, Roxanne."

My words made Roxanne start blushing, as she moved a little closer to me, and turning to look at me again. "That reminds me, I never properly thanked you for saving me today, lord Damian. So, I think now is as good a time as any. I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I feel closer to you then anyone I've ever known, and maybe will know, lord Damian."

Her words made me start to blush too, as I turned to face her as well. "What are you saying Roxanne?" I already had a pretty good idea. I just wanted to be sure and hear it from her.

Roxanne continued to blush, then took a deep breath to calm herself down, as she looked straight into my eyes. "...Lord Damian, I've never been in love before, but I think I've fallen for you."

I quickly started blushing after hearing that from her, as I could feel my heart starting to beat faster. I was about to respond to her, but then I got a very strong nagging feeling in my head, and it quickly made me sigh in defeat. "...Roxanne, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear that from a girl, especially a girl as beautiful as you are, but...there's something you should know. I haven't actually told you about all of my dreams. Ya see...in addition to becoming a true demon lord, and building my own kingdom, my third and final dream is to have a harem made up of beautiful and strong demi-human girls." I admitted to her, then quickly turned away from her, and hoped that this wouldn't ruin the mood at all, but I started to mentally prepare myself for the worst, just in case.

At first, Roxanne didn't say or do anything, but then I heard her speak to me in a serious tone. "Lord Damian, look at me. Right now."

I couldn't help flinching when I heard her tone, but after taking a deep breath, I slowly turned back to her without saying a word.

What happened next was perhaps the biggest shock of my entire life, apart from being transported to this world of course. The second I turned back to Roxanne, she leaned in, and pressed her lips against mine, keeping her tails wrapping tightly around my waist so I couldn't back away.

Not that I wanted to. The second I felt her lips against mine, my eyes went wide, and my entire face turned bright red. This was my first kiss, and even though I was shocked and confused, I still tried my best to kiss her back.

We separated about ten seconds later, both of us blushing, staring into each other's eyes.

"...I...I don't understand." Was all I could think to say at that moment, too stunned for anything more.

Roxanne sighed at me, then smiled, not sounding upset at all. "Is it really that surprising? In this world, more people have harems then you think. Mostly individuals with plenty of power and wealth, but still. Your the first guy I've really liked, lord Damian, and I just gave you my first kiss, and it was nice. It was also easy to tell that it was your first kiss too. Anyway, I'm an open minded kitsune, but I do have two conditions."

I let out another sigh when she mentioned that she could tell that was also my first kiss, but that quickly passed when she brought up her conditions. "Oh, I see. What are they exactly?"

Just then, in the space of three seconds, Roxanne smirked, and moved closer to me, whispering right into my ear. "One, always make sure to make time for me. And two, never forget that I was here first."

I already wasn't used to dealing with girls, but her forwardness was really not helping my nerves. However, I was also surprised at how well she took all of that. After taking a moment to calm down, and waiting for Roxanne to back away from me a little, I finally gave her a response. "Of course. There's no way Id ever ignore you, or forget that Roxanne. Thanks for being so understanding, and...I love you too Roxanne."

Roxanne smiles at me once more, feeling her own heart skip a beat when she hears that from me. "As much as I wanna burst with excitement and joy right now, we should get some sleep. If we're late to the reward ceremony, the spear hero and the princess might try to skip town with our winnings." She gave me one more quick kiss on the cheek, then stood up, walked back over to her bed, blowing out the candle in our room on her way, then laid down on her bed, making herself comfortable.

I took a moment to place my hand on the cheek she kissed, then laid down in my own bed, a very happy and content smile present on my face. "Thanks again Roxanne. Good night." I said to her, but my thoughts were much more uninhibited. _"Alright! I finally got my first girlfriend, and my first kiss! This is the best day of my life!" _

Over in her own bed, Roxanne closed her eyes, a smile present on her face as well. "Good night, lord Damian. I hope you have sweet dreams."

Despite all the excitement the two of us were feeling inside, we both managed to get to sleep not long after that. Today might've had its ups and downs for us, but we were both overjoyed with the way this day turned out.

**Awww. Isn't that sweet? Damian won the fight, Roxanne is safe, and Motoyasu might have a concussion. And to top it all off, Damian and Roxanne are an official couple. Sounds like a perfect end to a good day to me, despite a few bumps in the road. And next time, Damian and Roxanne will be adding a new friend to their party. What will they be like? What sorts of powers and abilities will they have? And most importantly, will I be able to find a good gift for my brother in time for the holidays? I really hope so.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and the outcome of the duel between heroes. Suck on that Malty! Am I right?**

**Hope to see all of you, and plenty of new readers here next time! Take care until then! Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting everyone!**


	7. Ch 6 - Plum

**Hello out there everyone! I hope you've all had a good week! I know I have!**

**I mean, I was sick for a good three days, and I had to run to the mall to get some Christmas shopping done, but nothing could possibly ruin my good mood. Does anyone care to take a wild guess at why that is? Too late! Ill tell ya!**

**Its because Pokémon Sword and Shield come out in less then a week! Can you feel the excitement in the air?! Because I definitely can!**

**Sorry about the overly enthusiastic introduction, I just also really look forward to a new generation of Pokémon. Ill be playing through Pokémon Shield myself. Get it? Pokémon Shield. Shield Hero. lol Its a stupid joke. I know.**

**Plus, me, my brother, and our cousins will be going to the midnight release for the games, and we've got a lot planned before that. We're gonna go out to dinner at our favorite restaurant, then enter the Smash Bros tournament that's gonna be taking place at the same Gamestop we'll be getting out Sword and Shield games from. Its gonna be a great night, and I cant wait for it.**

**Anyway, sorry if I'm boring you. I know you didn't come here to read about my future plans, but just as a heads up. I might become less active on here after the games come out. Ill still try to get a chapter out every week, but my schedule is already pretty packed, and I really wanna play these new games. So I hope all of you can understand, and please be patient. I really am doing my best with everything I've got going on in my life.**

**Also, Id like to thank one of my readers. Califhanger. They pointed out a small mistake that I made back during the first few chapter of my fanfic, about how Damian could somehow read this new world's language without any trouble. Thank you for catching this for me Califhanger. I've gone back and fixed this issue now, so it should be all good.**

**Now then, I think that's more then enough for one day. On with the show! Its time to meet Damian's next companion!**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or anything from it. I only own my OC's, Damian Abyss, Roxanne, and all future OC's as well.**

Chapter 6 - Plum

The following morning seemed brighter then ever for me and Roxanne, as we both awoke with yawns and big smiles on our faces. After the events of yesterday, most people would think that we'd be exhausted and have absolutely no desire to crawl out of bed, but one event in particular made our spirits stronger then ever. We both got up, got dressed, then gave each other a gentle kiss on the cheek, never losing our smiles the whole time. Roxanne then used some of our leftovers from the party to make us some really nice breakfast sandwiches, and I was a little surprised when she told me that she knew how to cook, even if most of the food was already cooked for her this time. Once we were done eating, we headed straight to the castle, not wanting to be late for the reward ceremony, and for collecting our winnings from Motoyasu after yesterday's bout between heroes.

Since we stayed at the inn closest to the castle, it didn't take us very long to arrive, and once we did, we headed to the throne room right away. Although we were the last ones to arrive, they hadn't yet started the ceremony, and everyone else was already in attendance. I took my place beside Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki in front of the throne, while Roxanne stood behind me, next to all the other party members of my fellow heroes, as they all stood behind their respective heroes as well. As expected, I got some glares from Motoyasu and Malty after I arrived, but they just made me smirk triumphantly. _"Looks like some people are still bitter about their loss. Well suck it, you two. What do you even need the reward money for anyway? Worst case scenario, the princess can just ask her papa for more gold and jewels."_

The glares stopped when the king spoke up, gaining everyone's attention instantly. "Now that everyone is present, lets begin. As a reward for his efforts during the wave, and making sure that my daughter remained unharmed, sir Motoyasu will receive 4000 silver coins."

One of the royal knights approached Motoyasu with a bag containing his reward, but before Motoyasu could grab it, I leaned over, and grabbed the bag full of coins myself. "Ill take that. Thank you." I said with another smirk on my face, as I took a look inside the bag to make sure it was real, and it was.

And then, as it on cue, Motoyasu turned to me, and started glaring and yelling right away. "Hey! That's mine Damian! Give it back!"

I turned to face him, continuing to smirk, as I made absolutely no effort to return the money to him. "Actually, its mine. Or did I hit you so hard yesterday that you forgot about the terms of our duel? Speaking of which, you also owe me everything you got from the chimera you fought during yesterday's wave. So lets have it." I held my hand out to Motoyasu, waiting for him to hand over the items he got from said chimera.

All of this made Motoyasu even more angry, as he made no attempt to reach for his belongings. "Hell no! Your not getting anything from me! Myne told me everything that happened after I woke up this morning! I don't know how, but you must've cheated somehow! Admit it!"

Just then, Itsuki stepped in, speaking in his usual calm and collected tone of voice. "Hold it right there Motoyasu. I'm sorry, but your attitude is unacceptable. You might be a hero, but your not acting like one right now at all. While I may not fully approve of Damian or his methods, the fact remains that you made a bet with him, and you lost."

"Not only that, but Damian didn't cheat. The princess sure did though. You might not have seen it, but plenty of other people did. She fired a magic spell at Damian during your duel. So even with an advantage, you still lost the duel, and real heroes honor the terms made in a sacred duel. Plus, the king still owes Damian his own reward for his efforts during the wave. He and his one party member defended that village from monsters all by themselves." Ren added, his arms crossed, his eyes closed, and his tone even calmer and smoother then Itsuki's.

Admittedly, I was happy to receive some back up from Ren and Itsuki again, but I knew they were both wrong about one thing. The fact is, I did cheat, but only after Malty did. Even so, there was no way I was gonna admit to that, especially not in front of the king, his bitch of a daughter, and their entire royal court.

The words of the sword hero and the bow hero seemed to have upset the king, Malty, and Motoyasu, as all three of them looked very displeased, annoyed, and just plain angry about the outcome of the duel, and because they knew Ren and Itsuki's words were true. As far as they all knew of course.

After taking a moment to think it over, and shake with anger, Motoyasu turned back to me, reached into his bag, pulled out a smaller bag, then threw it on the ground in front of me. "Rgh! Fine! Here! Take it!"

Some were surprised by how sudden that was, but I just looked down at the bag in front of me and smiled, bending over to pick it up after that. "I will. And please don't be a stranger. Come find me anytime you get more rare items. Id be more then happy to beat you again and take those too." I said to him in a rather cocky tone, opening the bag to see what was inside. I was surprised to find the now dead lion head of the chimera looking back at me, but once that wore off, I smiled again, finding it to be very interesting, as I began to wonder what kind of shield Id gain from it later. Also inside the bag was the chimera's snake tail head, some coins, some gems, and some other little stuff.

The reward ceremony continued from there, with both Ren and Itsuki earning 3800 silver coins each. And when it was finally my turn, I wasn't all that surprised to see that my reward was only 500 silvers. However, this didn't put a damper on my spirits at all, as I still had Motoyasu's reward money, giving me and Roxanne a total of 4500 silver coins. It was more money then we'd ever had before, and it made both of us very happy, despite the constant "royal treatment". I placed our large reward into my bag, then turned to leave. Now that we had what we came for, there was no reason for me and Roxanne to stick around the castle any more. "C'mon Roxanne. We got what we came for. Now we're outta here."

"Right behind you, lord Damian." Roxanne turned, and happily followed me out of the throne room, then out of the castle several minutes after that. As we walked through the streets of Melromarc, Roxanne started to let her mind wander for a few minutes, until she finally broke the silence between us, turning to face me. "So, lord Damian, have you given any thought about what our next move should be?"

I kept my eyes on the road ahead of us, but still answered her. "As a matter of fact, I have, but you may not like it Roxanne."

My answer made Roxanne tilt her head in confusion and curiosity, as she quickly asked me a follow up question. "What exactly do you mean by that, lord Damian?"

I let out sigh before answering her, already having a pretty good idea of how she'll react. "Roxanne, I know your feelings towards this guy are anything but the best, but I think we should pay Beloukas a visit. As strong as we are, we need more party members, and right now, he's out only method of getting new ones. It has been a while since we last saw him, so maybe he's got some new demi-humans or beastmen in stock, so to speak."

Roxanne flinched at the mention of that name, but after hearing me out, she let out a sigh of her own. Her sigh was much longer and deeper then mine though. "I suppose your right. It is because of him that you and I met, so okay. Fine. But lets not stay any longer then absolutely necessary. That slave trader really makes my skin crawl in the worst possible way." She shivered a bit just thinking about him and his business, but stopped as soon as I grabbed her hand.

"Okay. Deal. Lets go then Roxanne. Our next party member and friend is waiting for us." Keeping my hold on her hand, and with a bright smile on my face, the two of us made our way to Beloukas' tent. While I didn't really approve of slavery, I had to admit, I was super excited about getting another new party member, as I began to wonder what kind of inhuman creature she'd be this time.

X

While it may not have been on the map, I remembered exactly where Beloukas' tent was, so it only took me and Roxanne a few minutes to walk to it. Once we arrived, we made our way inside, and found the slave trader working on some paper work in his storage area. Beloukas looked up from his work as soon as he heard the sounds of footsteps approaching, then smiled his usual toothy smile when he saw us. "Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise. The shield hero and his kitsune, my new rising stars."

Me and Roxanne came to a stop, then looked at him with some slightly confused faces. "Rising stars? Did we do something?" I asked him, not sure what he was talking about.

"Oh yes, indeed you have, my boy. Every since word got out that a hero had a powerful demi-human slave in his party, people have been coming to me for slaves day and night. My sales haven't been this good in a long time, and now I can see what all the fuss has been about for myself." Beloukas explained to us, then walked over, taking a closer look at Roxanne.

Roxanne wasn't very comfortable with this at all, and kept her eyes on him the whole time, with her guard up, and one hand on her sword.

Meanwhile, my eyes started to wander around the inside of the tent, until they stopped on the potion that Beloukas said he used to make the slave crests. I glanced at him, making sure that his focus was still on Roxanne, then quietly made my way over to the potion, with an idea freshly brewed in my head. I opened the bottle, then poured the potion into the gemstone on my shield. My idea paid off, as I unlocked the Slave Users Shield from the potion. My status screen told me that this new shield granted bonuses to the user and every one of his slaves when they leveled up. _"Hmmm...This could come in handy." _I thought to myself with a grin, then put the bottle back down, and turned back to Roxanne and Beloukas.

Beloukas finished his inspection of Roxanne, then turned back to me a little after I turned back to him. "Its outstanding. To think you've made her so strong in such a short amount of time. You could get 30 gold coins for her if she was a virgin."

That comment made Roxanne blush, as she glared down at the short man. "You little creep! For your information, I am a virgin!"

Beloukas wasn't at all bothered by Roxanne's glare or her tone, as he spoke to me again after hearing her words. "Make that 50 gold coins!"

I maintained my composure as I looked back at him, though a small blush was present on my face after Id heard the word "virgin". "Easy there shorty. We didn't come hear to sell anything, especially not Roxanne. 50 gold coins might seem like a lot of money, but to me, Roxanne is priceless."

My response made Roxanne smile at me, as she felt very touched by what I said. She knew all along that I would never sell her, but it was still nice to hear from me.

"Anyway, we came here to buy, not sell. Thanks to a certain spear wielding dumbass, we've got more money then we know what to do with, so we thought it would be a good idea to increase our numbers. So, have ya got anything new and interesting to show me, Beloukas?" I asked him, keeping my cool, but was very excited on the inside.

The slave trader listened to me, maintaining his grin, but ended up shaking his head. "I do apologize for the inconvenience, but no. Slaves don't grow on trees you know. Its not like I get regular shipments in every so often. Unfortunately, I don't know when Ill be getting more new slaves to offer you, shield hero, but since you have the money, that level 75 werewolf is still here."

I remembered that werewolf, and that its price was 15 gold coins, which I could afford with the silver coins I got from Motoyasu. But after thinking it over, I ended up shaking my head right back at the slave trader. "Again, that it tempting, but once again, I think Ill stick to companions that are closer to our levels or lower." I sighed after that, feeling kind of disappointed, as my eyes started to wander again, and eventually stopped on a box filled with eggs, all of them with some kind of symbol painted on them. "What are those?"

Beloukas followed my eyes, then walked over to the box full of eggs, and began explaining them to me. "This is a monster egg lottery. Its a small business I have going on the side. For 100 silvers, you get one egg, and are guaranteed at least a filolial. And if you take care of the monster that hatches from your egg properly, you can make its value double. What's more, if you hit the jackpot, your egg will hatch into a dragon! And in case you weren't aware, that beast is worth 20 gold coins!"

My eyes widened when I heard him say the word "dragon", and just like that, my excitement was back. I hadn't seem very many of them, but I had seen a few dragons walking around Melromarc, pulling people's carts. Since it was the jackpot, I knew that meant that the odds of getting a dragon from one of these eggs had to be very slim, but the thought of actually obtaining my very own dragon was all the incentive I needed. Besides, it was only 100 silvers, and its not like I didn't have the money to spare for it. I pulled out the bag of money I got from Motoyasu, then dropped the 100 silvers on Beloukas' table right then and there. "I'm in."

Beloukas grinned at me once more, then picked out an egg for me, put it in a special container, and handed it to me. "I thought you might like this. I hope you get the monster your hoping for, shield hero."

I accepted the egg from the slave trader, then me and Roxanne left his tent, much to Roxanne's relief.

X

About a minute after we left Beloukas' tent, Roxanne turned to me, and looked down at the egg in my hands. "Not that I'm complaining, but why were you so interested in this egg, lord Damian? I didn't think lotteries were your thing."

"Their not, but ever since I was a kid, I've dreamed of having my very own dragon. I know its a longshot, but I just couldn't resist, Roxanne." I answered her, smiling down at the egg, already very eager for it to hatch.

"I don't mean to spoil your excitement, lord Damian, but what are we gonna do if that egg doesn't hatch into a dragon?" Roxanne asked me another question, having more then a few doubts that we'd be lucky enough to get the jackpot on our first try.

"Well then we'll just sell it back to Beloukas, or anyone who wants it, and try again. Its only 100 silvers per egg, and we've got tons of money now. Thanks to the spear idiot and his rotten to the core princess." I answered her yet again, my tone changing to one of annoyance at the mention of Motoyasu and Malty.

Roxanne let out a small sigh at my answer, putting her hands behind her head as we kept walking. "Okay, if that's what you want. Just don't go spending too much of our money on this, okay lord Damian?"

I nodded at her, but then our attention was quickly recaptured by the owner of the potion shop. Without realizing it, me and Roxanne had walked right passed his shop, and without any kind of warning, he walked out and called us inside.

Me and Roxanne took a moment to look at each other, thinking it over, then we both shrugged, and decided to hear what the shop owner had to say. So we followed him into his shop, all the way to the counter at the back, where he had a rather thick book waiting for us.

The shop owner moved behind his counter, then gave us a friendly smile, placing one hand on the book in front of him. "This grimoire contains recipes for finer medicines then the ones you've been bringing me. Go ahead and take it. Its yours."

This came as a surprise to me and Roxanne at first, but then I narrowed my eyes slightly at the man behind the counter. "Hold it. What's the catch?"

The shop owner shook his head at me, very quick to give me an answer. "There's no catch, sir shield hero. You see, I've got lots of relatives in Lute village. Their the ones that asked me to do this for you. You two saved a lot of people in that village, and I'm very grateful to both of you for it."

Me and Roxanne were once again surprised by this, never expecting what we did for the people of Lute village to lead to anything like this. So, feeling curious, I decided to pick up the book, open it, and have a look inside. At first, I couldn't make out any of the writing inside, but then the gemstone on my shield began to glow, and suddenly it was crystal clear to me. _"Okay. Not sure what just happened, but thanks shield." _That was the first time I actually noticed my shield helping me to understand this world's language, even though it had been doing it for me from the very beginning. I guess I just never really thought much of it before this point.

Roxanne looked over my shoulder, reading some of the book herself, but unlike me, she didn't require the aid of a legendary weapon to do so.

"By the way, there was one more thing. The old hag at the magic shop asked to see you too. I think its for a similar reason." The shop owner informed us, losing his smile at the mention of the magic shop owner for some reason.

Deciding that we might get some more useful items from it, me and Roxanne thanked the potion shop owner for the grimoire, then I put it away in my bag, and we both left for the magic shop.

X

We had to use my map to find it, since it was our first time visiting this particular shop. Once we finally found the shop, the two of us walked inside, and met the owner at her shop's counter.

Just like back at the potion shop, the owner of the magic shop greeted us with a warm smile, and a grimoire, but she informed us that this grimoire was filled with all kinds of magic spells. She told us that it was a gift for saving her grandson at Lute village, so we accepted her offer, and I put our second grimoire into my bag next to out first one.

"Now, since your hear, would you like for me to give the two of you a magic reading? I can tell you exactly what your magical affinities are?" The magic shop owner offered to us, placing a crystal ball down on the counter next.

We already knew that Roxanne's magical affinities were fire, light, and dark, but I had to admit, I was curious to see what mine would be. So I nodded at her, and stepped forward. "Ill take you up on that, since you offered."

"Very well then. Lets have us a look see." The woman focused on her crystal ball, and got the answer after just a few seconds. "Ah. It seems you have a rare affinity for healing and support magic, sir shield hero. And I can also see that the young lady has affinities for fire, light, dark, and several other types of magic as well. But for some reason, my crystal ball cant make them out." The woman found this to be very odd, unable to see what Roxanne's other affinities were, no matter how hard she tried.

This surprised me and Roxanne once more, as we both began to wonder what other kinds of powers Roxanne has hidden away inside of her. As for why the crystal ball couldn't tell what those powers were, Roxanne came up with an answer to that fairly quickly. "This is all news to me, but I think the reason your crystal ball cant figure it out is because I only have three of my tails so far. I'm guessing these other powers inside of me will show themselves when, and only when more of my tails grow in."

Roxanne's explanation made a great deal of sense to me, and it also made my curiosity grow, as I began to wonder exactly what kinds of powers her remaining six tails would bring. "I guess we'll just have to keep leveling up and see for ourselves."

"Well, what ever kinds of powers end up awakening within you, be sure to study the grimoire I gave you cover to cover. It has spells in it for all the magical affinities, so I'm sure it will be of great use to you two. I wish I could've given you a crystal ball instead, but I'm afraid this is my own one." The shop owner said to us, looking up from her crystal ball. "If you use a crystal ball, you can learn the magic sealed inside of it instantly."

Her words made me and Roxanne look at her crystal ball now too, as neither of us had heard about this before now. "Not that we've come across any crystal balls on our adventure so far, but that still would've been good to know earlier."

The shop owner looked at us with some surprise and confusion of her own after hearing that, then went on to give us some not so shocking information. "Really? But Id heard that the royal court ordered a large number of crystal balls to give to all the heroes."

After hearing that, me and Roxanne let out simultaneous sighs of annoyance, as I facepalmed myself at the same time. "Why am I not surprised?"

The magic shop owner was surprised and confused once again by our reactions, but she quickly shook it off, and gave us another smile. "In any case, learning spells from a grimoire might be more time consuming, but once you get the hang of it, you can learn any and all the spells you want. Just keep at it."

Her words of encouragement did manage to lift our spirits a bit, so we thanked her, then left her shop as well. Now that we had something to do, me and Roxanne decided to head for the forest just outside of Lute village for some peace and quiet so we could get started on reading our new grimoires, and hopefully learn at least one or two new spells before day's end.

X

After leaving Melromarc, me and Roxanne headed for Lute village, deciding to walk through the forest to get there. We fought a few monsters along the way, but they weren't much of a challenge for us at our current levels. After a while, we found ourselves a nice spot under some trees, on a small hill that overlooked Lute village. The two of us sat down, then I pulled out our two grimoires, handing the magic grimoire to Roxanne, and keeping the medical grimoire for myself to read. Roxanne started reading her grimoire right away, but before I started reading mine, I pulled out the bag of chimera drops I got from Motoyasu, deciding that now was as good a time as any to feed the two severed heads to my shield and see what comes of them.

I started with the chimera's lion head, watching it turn into energy and disappear into the gemstone on my shield as I held the severed head over it. Seconds later, my status screen appeared in my field of vision, showing me my shield's upgrade tree. The chimera's lion head did unlock a new shield, but it had a question mark symbol over it. Then a notice appeared on my status screen, telling me that more materials were needed to finish creating this shield. I wasn't expecting this, and it peaked my curiosity, as I made a mental note that me and Roxanne had to find more chimeras at some point. _"Maybe it needs the other heads. Fortunately, Motoyasu had just enough brain power to keep two of them." _

On that note, I pulled out the chimera's snake tail head next, and fed it to my shield as well. What happened next was an even bigger surprise for me, as my status screen and upgrade tree appeared in my field of vision again, and informed me that I had unlocked the entire chimera shield series. This series included the Chimera Meat Shield, Chimera Bone Shield, Chimera Leather Shield, and Chimera Viper Shield. These shields also granted me a bunch of bonuses too. Cooking skill, darkness resistance, defense boost, change shield, antidote mixing, poison resistance, and a new skill called Snake Fang.

I smiled at all my new shields, bonuses, and skills, never expecting the chimera's snake tail head to grant me so much by itself. It also made me wonder why I didn't get any of this stuff for the chimera's lion head, but rather then question this, I decided to focus my curiosity on the mystery shield that the chimera's lion head started to unlock for me, and to just be happy with everything I did manage to unlock from the chimera parts as a whole. The rest of the items in the bag Motoyasu gave me was mostly treasure items, so I closed the bag and put it away for now. I then grabbed my medical grimoire and finally started reading, leaning back against the tree I was sitting under as I did.

As me and Roxanne continued to read through our grimoires, several hours had gone by without either of us realizing it at first, as the sun was starting to set over the land. By this time, Roxanne was trying out some light and dark type spells she'd read about in the magic grimoire, while I continued to read through the pages of the medical grimoire, as another idea suddenly entered my mind. This idea might've seemed odd to most people, but I went ahead and did it anyway, tearing several pages out of the medical grimoire.

The sound of paper tearing made Roxanne's ears twitch, as she quickly turned to me to see what was going on. "Lord Damian, I don't mean to question your methods, but what exactly are you doing?"

Before answering her, I fed the several grimoire pages I ripped out to my shield, and smiled again when I unlocked yet another new shield. It was the Book Shield this time, and it granted me a boost to my magic power, along with a skill that greatly enhanced the effects of potions and medicines made and given by me. I then changed my shield into my new Book Shield, then turned to Roxanne, and showed it to her. "This."

Roxanne looked at my new shield, and was surprised and impressed at the same time. "Wow. That shield really can turn anything into a shield, cant it?"

"Pretty much. I still don't fully understand how it works, but it is pretty cool. Anyway, how's your studying been coming along Roxanne? Have you mastered any new spells yet?" I asked her, then eagerly awaited her answer.

Roxanne smiled at me and nodded, placing her grimoire on the ground next to her. "I have. Two spells actually. Both light based spells. Would you like to see them, lord Damian?"

I changed my shield back to its usual form, put down my own grimoire, and smiled back at her. "Show me what you've got Roxanne."

Roxanne started by taking a deep breath, focusing her magic power, as she held her hands out in front of her. "First Light." From her hands, a bright illumination began to shine brilliantly.

The light blinded me instantly, forcing me to look away and cover my eyes. "Oh geez!...That's very impressive Roxanne, but could you please turn it off?" I asked her, and she did, but when I turned back to her, I was very surprised and confused to see that she had disappeared without a trace. "What the hell? Roxanne! Where'd you go?!"

About twenty seconds later, a pair of hands appeared from behind me, covering my eyes, accompanied by a very familiar and playful voice. "Guess who." It was Roxanne. She somehow disappeared and got behind me without me noticing at all.

While her antics did catch me off guard, I still found myself laughing a little too. "Okay Roxanne, ya got me. But how'd you do that?"

Roxanne let out a few giggles of her own, then let me go, and walked out in front of me again. "Its called Hide Mirage. Now you see me. Now you don't." She activates her second new spell, and suddenly turns completely invisible right before my eyes.

Her new spell made my eyes widen for a moment, but that was quickly replaced with a grin. "Not too bad for a day's worth of reading Roxanne. I can definitely see these two spells being very useful to us."

Roxanne ended her spell, appearing before me again, giving me another smile. "Thanks lord Damian. And there's still so many more spells in that grimoire for us to learn. Lets master them together."

I smiled right back at her, standing up on my feet, then turned in the direction of Lute village. "The next wave isn't for another month, so we've got plenty of time to learn. Since we're here, lets spend the night in Lute village, then grind some levels tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good to me." Roxanne said to me, then walked over, and kissed my right cheek.

I quickly responded by turning to her, and kissing her left cheek in return.

After our little moment was over, the two of us packed up our belongings, then headed for Lute village. Upon arrival, we made our way to the local inn, paid for a room, ordered some dinner, then retired to our room for the night.

X

I was the first one of the two of us to wake up the following morning, and not long after I did, I heard some cracking sounds. I quickly located the source of these sounds, and was very excited to see that they were coming from the egg I bought from Beloukas. I didn't think it would hatch so quickly, but I was definitely not complaining. With my eyes locked on the egg, and a big smile on my face, I called to Roxanne, not wanting her to miss this. "Roxanne. Hey Roxanne. Wake up. You have to see this."

Hearing my calls, Roxanne awoke from her slumber with a yawn, rubbing her eyes and sitting up before turning to me. "What is it lord Damian? What's going on?"

I stepped aside, showing her that the monster egg was starting to hatch, and she rushed out of bed and quickly as she could, not wanting to miss a second of this.

The two of us stayed silent as we watched more and more pieces of egg shell fall away, revealing something purple colored inside, almost like a dark lavender kind of shade of purple. Another minute later, the creature inside finally freed itself from the egg shell, letting out a few small growls once it was out.

Me and Roxanne both smiled when we saw the creature that had emerged from the egg, as I was very happy with the result. "Yes! Its a dragon!"

The newborn dragon slowly took its first few steps out onto the table its egg was one, stumbling a little bit at first, but barely managed to maintain its balance. The dragon then looked up at me with its green colored eyes, let out a few more tiny growls, and continued to walk over to me. The dragon stood on its two larger back legs, and already had some small claws, as well as three small horns on either side of its head.

I moved closer to the small dragon, smiling down at it, and slowly extend my arm out, giving the dragon a few gentle pets on top of its head and down its back. "Welcome to the world, little one. I'm Damian, and this is Roxanne."

At my touch, the dragon growled again, but it sounded gentler this time. The dragon then licked my hand, and proceeded to nuzzle its head against my palm.

"Awww! Its so cute lord Damian! It must think you're its mother." Roxanne smiled at this touching scene, giggling a little bit too at the thought of the dragon seeing me as its mother.

I wasn't bothered by it at all though. I was far too happy that we were lucky enough to get a dragon on our first try in the monster egg lottery to be upset about anything. "We'll have to pick out a good name for it at some point, but for now, I think we could all use a bite to eat."

Roxanne nodded at me, then I gently picked up our new friend, and we proceeded to go grab some breakfast. But before any of that, I made sure to grab a few pieces of our newly hatched dragon's egg shell, and fed them to my shield. This caused the Dragon Egg Shield to appear on my upgrade tree. No special skills came with this one, but I did gain another small boost to my defense and magic power, which made me smile once again.

X

For the next two days, me and Roxanne stayed in Lute village, along with our new scaly companion. During that time, we learned that our dragon was female, and after giving it some thought, I decided to name her Plum. The three of us spent our time in Lute village sharing meals together, going into the forest to collect items, battling monsters to gain experience, and plenty more. All of our hard work really paid off too, as I grew to level 25, Roxanne grew to level 28, and Plum managed to rise all the way up to level 15. Also, thanks to a growth boost skill I acquired, Plum grew big enough for me to ride, and some of the scales on her back changed to a maroon color, looking like some maroon splotches on her back. These maroon splotches were also present on the back of her neck, the top side of her tail, the outsides of her legs, and around her eyes and snout. At the same time, the front of her neck, and the underside of her body gained some bigger scales that looked almost like armor.

At one point, I even climbed onto Plum's back and tried to ride her, which proved to be a lot harder then I thought it would be. Plum was very fast, but also very strong, running straight through several trees and knocking them all down, while I did my best just to hold onto her and not get thrown off. All the while, Roxanne watched all of this happen with a small smirk on her face, finding it to be mildly entertaining, but that quickly changed into concern when me and Plum ran into the forest and didn't come back right away. Roxanne waited in a field outside Lute village for hours, until me and Plum finally returned, with me walking next to Plum, and looking very worn out. After that, we bought a saddle and some reins for Plum, which ended up helping a lot.

Plum got too big to stay in our room at the inn, so me and Roxanne got her a stable at one the barns in Lute village. It was now the afternoon of the third day after Plum hatched from her egg, and it was feeding time, so me and Roxanne headed to the barn with some food. Plum was very happy to see us, especially me, licking my face as soon as I was close enough to her stable. This made both me and Roxanne laugh, as I cleaned Plum's saliva off my face, then fed her by hand.

Roxanne smiled at Plum, watching her happily accept the food from me. "I still cant believe how much she's grown in only two days."

I smiled at Plum too, continuing to feed her until the bucket was empty. "My growth enhancement skill probably helped a little, but yeah. Not only that, but she's grown a lot stronger these past two days too. Isn't that right Plum?"

Plum responded to me with a friendly growling sound, as it was the only way she had to communicate with us, but me and Roxanne still understood her well enough.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something, lord Damian. Why did you decide to name her Plum? Is it just because most of her scales are purple colored?" Roxanne asked, turning to face me.

I kept my eyes on Plum though, as I responded to Roxanne's question. "Actually no. I named Plum after a friend I had when I was a kid. See, my grandmother used to breed rats, and after months of begging my parents, she gave me one as a pet. The rat she gave me was only two months old, and her name was Plum. I'm not sure why my grandmother named her that, but I didn't care. I loved her so much. I took care of her and played with her everyday, and she was my best friend for a long time. But then, three years later, she died. I was sad to see her go, but I decided not to get another rat from my grandmother. I wasn't ready to move on back then, but now I've got dragon Plum, and I'm pretty sure dragons live longer then three years."

Plum let out another growling sound, and actually started smiling at me. It was her first smile, so it looked a little rough around the edges, and showed off a lot of her teeth, but it made me and Roxanne smile back at her.

However, our smiles quickly vanished when we overheard some of the village mention that the royal knights had just entered the village for some reason. I let Plum out of her stable, then me, her, and Roxanne went to go see what was going on. To our surprise, and extreme irritation, we found a group of knights, with Malty standing tall on a platform in the middle of them, and Motoyasu at her left side, sitting on the back of filolial with green colored feathers.

"In light of his exploits during the most resent wave of catastrophe, the spear hero, sir Motoyasu, has been named ruling lord of this region." Malty said to all the villagers who'd gathered on the scene, holding an open scroll in her hand, showing it to all of them.

Meanwhile, Motoyasu looked as smug as ever. Still sitting on the back of his filolial, he grinned smugly, and flipped his hair.

Malty continued to speak, ignoring the whispers that were already going on between some of the villagers. "To aid in the repairs of this village, we will be issuing a new toll. This toll will be fifty silver coins to enter the village, and another fifty to exit."

The villagers didn't like this one bit, and started complaining to her right away, telling her that they wouldn't have anything left to live on after paying those tolls.

"You dare to question the law of your ruler?" Malty refused to yield, as her tone started to sound rather threatening.

I sighed at this, then bent over, picked up some mud, kneaded it into a ball, then yelled out over the crowd. "Hey, princess Slut! Think fast!" I didn't give her even a second to react, throwing the ball of mud right at her, managing to hit the scroll she held in her hand, covering it in mud. "That's what I think of you and your laws!"

There were quite a few gasps from the crowd after that, as Malty turned to me and started glaring. "Rgh...The shield hero. Only you would do something like this. What are you still doing here? As you've just heard, this is sir Motoyasu's domain, so you have no right to be here. Leave this instant, you miserable criminal."

I looked back at her, keeping my cool, and shaking my head. "I could, but since you told me to, I don't think I will. In fact, why don't you hit the road? Its bad enough you've got your claws in the town of Melromarc, but now your after Lute village too? I don't think so. This is our turf, at least until we can get the means to blow this kingdom." I said to the princess in a blunt tone, then turned my gaze to Motoyasu. "And you, Mr. Boy Toy, do you actually know how much it costs to spend a night at the inn in this village?"

Motoyasu looks back at me, then looks away slightly, unable to give me an answer. "How would I know that? I've never stayed here before."

"One silver a night, with meals included. That alone should tell you that these villagers don't have nearly enough money to spare on your dumb tolls. Your charging the equivalent of a hundred nights here to just enter and leave the village. If this is just because I took all your reward money from the last wave, don't take it out on these people. Just got your unappealing princess to ask her daddy for more money. I'm sure the royal family has got plenty of cash to burn! Must be nice for you! Meanwhile, the people of Lute village are barely getting by with the money they have! Am I right people?!" I yelled out to the crowd, knowing that I could get them on my side just like before.

The villagers agreed with me right away, disapproving of having Motoyasu as their lord, and some even went so far as to consider me as their lord, since me and Roxanne were the ones that defended them and their village during the last wave.

Of course, Malty didn't liked this one bit, and raised her hand, giving her knights the order to point their weapons at the villagers. "How dare you filthy peasants go against a royal decree! Its not up to you, the shield hero, or anyone outside the royal family!" She was about to give the order to attack, but then she suddenly flinched, stopping dead in her tracks, as a group of cloaked and masked women appeared before her out of nowhere.

One of these women raised her head, looking up at Malty as she addressed her. "I trust you know who we represent, princess Malty."

"Yes, I do. But why have you come here?" Malty asked the woman, starting to sound rather uneasy.

"For you." The women simply said, handing a single scroll to Malty.

Malty took the scroll, opened it, and began reading it, while the rest of us just looked on with puzzled facial expressions.

"Lord Damian, do you have any idea who those women are?" Roxanne asked me, keeping her eyes on Malty and the shadowy group of women.

I did the same, shaking my head a few times before answering her. "No idea, but it looks like they showed up at a good time. What ever is written on that scroll, the princess doesn't seem to like it very much." I commented, a small smirk appearing on my face as I watched Malty start to shake with anger.

"But how...could this be?" Malty stammered out, then faced the crowd once more. She then raised her arm, and pointed at me. "Shield hero, fight us for the right to rule this village!"

This caught me and Roxanne completely by surprise, as I looked back at the princess with an expression of confusion and annoyance at the same time. "Say what?"

"You heard me! You will face sir Motoyasu in a challenge, and the winner will be declared lord of this village!" Malty continued to yell at me, but her words only made me start to laugh. "Is something funny to you?!"

I laughed for a solid minute, then regained my composure and turned back to her. "Actually, yeah. You are! We've been down this road before. Me and Motoyasu have already fought, and he lost. What makes you think this time will be any different?"

Malty then turned her gaze over to Plum, and got her smirk back. "Who said this was going to be another duel? Sir Motoyasu has a filolial, and by some miracle, it seems you have a dragon. So the challenge will be a race!"

This challenge proved to be yet another surprise to me, as I began to weigh my options in my head. _"Hmmm...Lets see. On the one hand, if I win, Lute village will become mine, and it could be a good starting point for building my own kingdom. But do I really wanna rule over a village filled with humans? Then again, on the other hand, if I choose not to compete, Malty and Motoyasu get their way, and that really pisses me off. Besides, this could be another chance for me to defeat and humiliate them. Of course, I'm sure Malty will try to cheat again in some way." _

In the middle of my contemplating, the villagers turned to me, and the mayor walked over to me and started bowing. "Please sir shield hero. We beg of you. Please accept the challenge and defeat the spear hero like you did before. Our village will certainly not survive another week with his and the princess' insane tolls, especially not with all the repairs we still have to do. They've asked for you specifically, so our lives are quite literally in your hands."

The mayor's words snapped me out of my thoughts and back to reality, as I turned to face him and his fellow villagers. "Look, its not that I don't appreciate everything you've done for me, Roxanne, and Plum up to now, but this little skirmish has nothing to do with us. So if you want my help, you'll have to give me a real reason to save your asses again."

Just then, Plum turned, catching my and Roxanne's attention. We followed her gaze to Motoyasu's filolial, as it looked straight back into Plum's eyes, not looking very happy. Motoyasu's filolial glared at Plum, letting out a few loud chirps, while Plum just stared back at the large bird, letting out a few growls, sounding a little confused.

I raised my eyebrow at this scene, confused and intrigued by it. "What's this all about?"

"I've heard stories about how filolials and dragons don't get along well together at all, and it seems to be true. But Plum doesn't look angry or upset. Just confused." Roxanne explained to me, but didn't quite understand Plum's behavior.

"I see. Interesting." I didn't really understand Plum's behavior myself, or the whole rivalry between dragons and filolials either. _"Why would dragons and those large birds be at each other's throats? I'm sure there's quite a story there, but Plum doesn't seem bothered by it." _I started thinking about all of that, but my thoughts were once again interrupted by the mayor and his fellow villagers begging for my help.

"Please sir shield hero! We don't have much to offer, but we'll pay you what ever we can if you'll agree to do this for us!" The mayor and a good number of villagers bowed to me again, pleading one more time for my help.

I turned back to them, listened to their offer, then thought about it some more. After another thirty seconds of thinking, I finally came to a decision, and turned back to Malty and Motoyasu with grin on my face, doing my demon lord pose for them. "It seems these humans have called upon the aid of a demon lord. How could I refuse such pleas for help? Battle or race, we'll take you on. If you really wanna embarrass yourselves again, then be my guests."

Malty and Motoyasu shot me some glares after hearing all of that from me, then the two, as well as Motoyasu's filolial and their squad of knights, turned and headed for the outside of the village.

Me and Roxanne watched them leave, then turned to each other, nodded, and proceeded to follow them. As we did, I called for Plum to follow us, and she did, giving me an affirmative growl.

The villagers all followed us out of the village as well, and everyone ended up gathering around what we decided was the starting line for the race, located on a path that extended around the entire outside of the village.

Me and Motoyasu stood on either side of the starting line, along with our parties, and our mounts. I was in the middle of gently rubbing the top of Plum's head, making her smile, until our moment was rudely interrupted.

"Well, look at this. Looks like we both entered the monster egg lottery, but you somehow ended up with a dragon." Motoyasu walked over to me and Plum, sporting his usual tone and grin.

I just glanced at him, then quickly turned back to Plum. "Yeah, so what of it? If you're gonna talk to me, can you at least get to the point so I don't have to listen to the sound of your voice?"

"Listen Damian, I'm gonna level with ya. I've heard people say that dragons are next to impossible to tame when they get older. You don't really wanna put up with a hassle like that, do ya? Of course not. So how about a trade? Your dragon, for my giant bird thing?" Motoyasu made me an offer, sounding like my previous comments didn't faze him at all.

"First of all, my dragon has a name. Her name is Plum. Second of all, I'm sure your filolial doesn't appreciate being called a "giant bird thing". And finally, no fricken way. You could have all the money in the world, and I still wouldn't sell or trade away Plum. I love her, and she loves me. Isn't that right Plum?" I spoke to Motoyasu in a very cold tone, but my tone got much warmer when I spoke to Plum, smiling at her, as I continued to rub the top of her head.

Plum smiled back at me, growling some more, then she started to nuzzle her head against mine.

Motoyasu did get a little angry at first, but he quickly took a deep breath, and calmed himself back down. "So her name's Plum. And for the record, I never call my mount that to his face. His name's Midori. Also, if ya ask me, I feel sorry for Plum. A rare and beautiful monster like her having to be ridden by a lecherous criminal like you. It breaks my heart. As a true hero, and a gentleman, I cant leave even a monster with you Damian. Its just-" As he spoke, he took a few more steps towards me and Plum, his tone getting more aggressive with every word he spoke.

However, Motoyasu ended up getting cut off very suddenly. As he spoke, and continued to get closer to us, Plum glanced at him, then growled and stomped one of her feet on the ground. Seconds later, a large stone cylinder suddenly rose up from the ground directly under Motoyasu. The stone cylinder rose up at such high speed that Motoyasu never saw it coming, as it came up, and struck him with great force right between his legs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Motoyasu yelled out in pure agony, as the stone cylinder sent him flying through the air, and ended up landing him head first into a pile of hay.

Malty, the rest of Motoyasu's party, and even a few knights gasped with shock the second they saw this. "AH! Sir Motoyasu!"

The spear hero just laid there in the hay with a paid look on his face and one hand between his legs, squirming all over as he tried to fight through the excruciating pain he was clearly in. "...Son of a bitch...Its gonna leave a bruise...Damn it...It hurts so bad..."

"Just hang on sir Motoyasu! Healing magic! Right now!" Malty ran over to his side, then ordered the knights to heal him, to which they were quick to respond and get results.

Meanwhile, me and Roxanne just stood on our side of the starting line, watching all of this with wide eyes. Neither of us saw this coming at all, but as the shock slowly wore off, the two of us burst out into laughter.

Then, seeing our reactions, Plum started to laugh too, but for a different reason. She was just very happy to see us so happy.

Hearing our laughter, Malty turned and started glaring and yelling at us. "Rgh! Its not funny! You dirty cheater!"

"Ya know what? You're right. Its not funny to you. And that makes it funnier to us! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" I said to Malty, making a joke, which made me, Roxanne, and Plum all laugh even harder.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Hope you girls weren't planning on getting lucky tonight! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Roxanne made a joke of her own, mocking Malty and the other female members of Motoyasu's party.

Malty, as well as all the other girls in Motoyasu's party glared at us once more, but then turned back to their hero, going back to tending to his injury.

After a good three minutes of laughter, me, Roxanne, and Plum finally calmed down, as I wiped a few tears from my eyes. "Oh Lucifer, that was too good! Great job Plum. I'm very proud of you." I smiled at her, petting the top of her head again.

Plum smiled again too, and growled happily in response, giving my hand a few good licks as well.

"It looks like Plum has an affinity for earth magic, and to already have such a good handle on it after hatching from her egg just three days ago is impressive to say the least." Roxanne explained to me with a smile of her own, turning to look at the stone cylinder that Plum made.

This revelation caught my attention in a big way, as I turned to face the stone cylinder too. "No way! That's great!" I turned back to Plum after that, and smiled an even bigger smile at her. "Plum, you are one incredible dragon."

Plum continued to return my smiles, and growled happily at me and my praise, nuzzling her head against mine once more.

Roxanne turned to me and Plum after that, and smiled at the two of us. "Best of luck in this race you two. I know you can beat them." Roxanne then moved closer to me, and started to whisper. "By the way, lord Damian, did you want me to give you a hand again if Malty starts cheating again? Because at this point, I'm almost positive that she will."

Hearing Roxanne, I took my hands away from Plum, turned to Roxanne, and whispered back to her. "Only as a last resort. You remember the signal. Wait for me to tap my shield three times. Ill make sure to do it when we're close enough for you to hear it. However, if I'm being honest, I don't think we'll need to cheat this time Roxanne. At the risk of sounding cocky, I think me and Plum have got this." I said to her with a grin, then stopped whispering, and turned back to Plum. "What do ya say Plum? Are you ready to race?"

Plum responded by raising her head, and letting out the loudest growl she could. It wasn't quite a roar, but it was all I needed to hear.

Roxanne smiled at me and Plum once more after seeing Plum's display, then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "That was for luck." She said to me, then winked at me, and walked over to the sidelines with the villagers.

My grin got even bigger after I felt Roxanne kiss me. If my confidence wasn't surging before, it was definitely surging now. "No way we'll lose now. Thanks Roxanne."

Once Motoyasu was finally back on his feet, me and him mounted our monsters, and made our ways to our spots on either side of the starting line.

The mayor ten stood before us, and explained the rules of our race. "The race will be three laps around the outside of the village. Whoever makes it back to this point first will be the winner."

Roxanne and Malty cheered for me and Motoyasu, respectively of course, from the sidelines, then shot some glares at each other.

"On your marks...Get set...Go!" The mayor gave the signal, and Plum and Midori took off as fast as they could.

Me and Motoyasu were neck and neck for the first few seconds, but then me and Plum started to pull ahead, lengthening the distance between us. "That's it Plum! Keep it up! Your doin great!"

Plum responded with a few more loud growls, kicking up some dirt at Motoyasu and Midori as she ran.

Me and Plum made it all the way around the village, stayed ahead of Motoyasu and Midori the whole time, and began to approach the final turn of the race. However, just before we reached it, a pitfall trap suddenly appeared in front of us, and Plum tripped on it. "Woah! Plum!" We both fell to the ground, giving Motoyasu and Midori the chance to pass us.

"Lord Damian! Plum!" Roxanne called out to us with concern in her voice, then glanced at Malty, knowing that that pitfall trap had to be her doing.

"Sir Motoyasu!" Malty called out to and smiled at Motoyasu as he and Midori ran passed her, finishing their first lap of the race.

But me and Plum were back in the race in seconds, and were hot on their heels. "Like the saying goes. Cheaters never learn, or something like that. Time to even the odds a bit. Hey Plum, think you can use your earth magic again?"

Plum glanced at me as she ran, and gave me a growl of confirmation.

I grinned, somehow able to understand what she said to me. "Okay then. Make a big mud puddle right in front of Motoyasu and Midori."

Plum growled loudly again, utilizing her earth magic once more, channeling it through the ground.

Seconds later, a large mud puddle suddenly appeared in Motoyasu and Midori's path, much to their shock. "What the hell?! Go around it Midori! Quick!" They were too late though, and in trying to avoid the mud puddle, Midori stepped in it, slipped, and the two came crashing down, getting covered in mud in the process.

"Sorry Midori! Not sorry Motoyasu!" I yelled at them, as me and Plum ran right passed them, taking the lead once again. Still grinning, I glanced back at Motoyasu, and yelled at him once more. "Looks good on ya!"

Roxanne watched all of this, giggling to herself with a satisfied smile on her face.

At the same time, Malty glared at this turn of events, then gave one of her knights a look.

The knight understood this look, and quickly went off to see to something.

Motoyasu and Midori also glared at me and Plum, quickly picking themselves up, and getting back in the race. "I wont lose to you again Damian!"

Midori let out a loud chirp, sounding just as determined at Motoyasu was.

Me and Plum once again held the lead, but as we made it to about the halfway point of our second lap, we were hit by another of Malty's traps. At least, that's what it had to be, as Plum suddenly started to slow down without any other explanation. "Persistent, aren't we?" I said to myself, referring to the princess.

I didn't have time to do much else though, as Motoyasu and Midori quickly caught up to us, and Midori gave Plum a good kick as they passed us, knocking us aside. "Take that!" Motoyasu yelled at us, then laughed as he and Midori continued down the track.

I glared at Motoyasu, then grabbed an antidote out of my bag, and had Plum drink it to nullify the effects of the spell that was cast on her. "C'mon Plum! We don't wanna lose to them, do we?!"

Plum growled in response to my words again, then ran after them at high speed. The two of us caught up to and passed Motoyasu and Midori in seconds, then went on to finish our second lap.

"Keep it up lord Damian! Plum! Only one more lap to go!" Roxanne cheered and waved to us as we ran passed her, feeling good that she didn't need to step in this time.

Motoyasu started to get angry and upset with the way things were turning out, as he started yelling at his filolial. "Come on! What's wrong with you?! Go faster damn it!"

Midori chirped angerly at his rider, but still picked up the pace as much as he could, not wanting to lose to a dragon.

And as me and Plum ran passed Malty, Plum once again kicked up some dirt clouds, causing the princess to cover her eyes and cough. "...Foul beasts!" She glared at us once more, yelling out some more insults at us as well.

It was not down to the third and final lap, and it seemed Malty still had one more trick up her sleeve. Hidden behind some trees, one of her knight cast a spell on Midori, making him lighter and faster.

This surprised Motoyasu, but he went with it, and grinned as he and Midori gained the lead once more.

They weren't ahead of me and Plum by much, but it was still enough for them to block our path, and force us to head straight for the pitfall trap that we fell into during the first lap of the race.

Things became even worse for us when a second hole suddenly appeared right next to the first one, making Plum growl at me with concern.

I had to think fast, and luckily for us, a plan came to me in seconds. "Just keep running Plum! And get ready to jump!"

Plum nodded, growling at me, running as fast as she could, putting her trust in me.

With my eyes on the first hole, I held my shield out in front of me, trying out one of my new skills. "Air Strike Shield!" Without even having to switch to my Rope Shield, I made my Air Strike Shield appear over the first hole, covering it up completely.

Once Plum reached my Air Strike Shield, she jumped off of it, and started to run along a rather steep wall of earth on the other side of the track, digging in the claws on her feet with every step to make sure she didn't fall off of it. She didn't lose any of her speed though, and soon jumped off of the wall, making us neck and neck with Motoyasu and Midori again.

Motoyasu and Midori were both surprised by all of this, taking a moment to stare at me and Plum with wide eyes, but they quickly refocused their attention back on the race.

The four of us faced the path ahead, with determined facial expressions all around, as we could all see the finish line ahead of us.

"Lord Damian! Plum! You can do it! Don't give up!" Roxanne continued to watch and cheer for us, as the villagers of Lute joined her.

At the same time, Malty was more then a bit more forceful with her cheering, yelling at Midori with anger in her voice. "Push it faster! You stupid oversized chicken!"

Me and Motoyasu kept getting closer and closer to the finish line with every second that went by, and as we were pretty much right next to each other, I glanced at him. "Hey Motoyasu, looks like you've really hit the wall!"

Motoyasu glances back at me, glaring, and sounding confused. "What the hell are you on about now?! What wall?!"

I smirked at him, then turned back to the track ahead. "This one! Plum, Wall of Stone!"

Plum understood my directions, and growled loudly, using her earth magic once again. This time, she created a thick, ten foot tall wall of stone, directly in front of Motoyasu and Midori.

The spear hero and his filolial only had enough time to look ahead of them with shocked facial expressions, and yell as loud as they could for about one second. After that, they literally hit the wall, running right into it at high speed, hitting it very hard with a loud "THUD" sound.

The impact made a few villagers wince, and one man even said "Oh...He's gonna feel that one tomorrow."

And with that, me and Plum crossed the finish line way before Motoyasu and Midori did, winning the race and earning a great deal of applause from Roxanne, as well as the villagers of Lute.

Plum then slowed to a stop, and I smiled as I climbed off of her back. "Well, looks like we're two for two."

Nearly all the villagers smiled at me and Plum after we stopped, as the mayor spoke to me once again. "Very nicely done sir shield hero. Thanks to you, we can continue to live peacefully and focus on repairing our village."

"I didn't really do it for you humans, but if you must thank someone, thank Plum. I rode her and helped out, but she did all the heavy lifting today." I turned to the villagers as I spoke to them, then gave Plum a few good pats on her side.

However, I was suddenly surprised when a cloud of purple smoke suddenly burst from Plum's body. When it cleared away, Plum had grown in size. Not by too much, but it was still easy to see that she was bigger then she was a few seconds ago. My and everyone else's shock grew, as Plum smiled, raised her head, then roared loudly like the dragon she was.

Silence followed after her roar, but then I smiled at her again, and went back to patting her side. "Good on ya!"

Plum turned to me, smiled and growled at me, then licked my face in her usual manner.

This made me laugh, as I started to clean her saliva off my face again, but our moment was once again interrupted by the voice of a certain red haired princess.

"You cheated again!" Malty stood a few yards away from us, her arms crossed, and several knights at her sides. "You had your dragon use earth magic to help you win the race!"

Me and Plum turned to them, as Roxanne rejoined us. "I don't believe you stated any rules against our monsters using magic. To be exact, you said that this was a race between heroes and their monsters. So technically, we didn't cheat at all, but you sure as hell did! The pitfalls on the track! Plum slowing down on the second lap! And Midori speeding up on the final lap out of nowhere! Care to explain all of that?!" I yelled back at her, refusing to back down or let myself be intimidated by her, her knights, or any of her idle threats.

Just like always, Malty smiled innocently, and tried to play dumb. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"The shield hero is correct." Suddenly, the same cloaked and masked women from before appeared again, surrounding Malty and making her flinch. "We have detected traces of magic on the course."

Malty turned her gaze back to the cloaked women for a moment, then turned back to me, Roxanne, and Plum. "It was...It was them! You were just detecting that dragon's magic! Nothing more!"

"Untrue. While the dragon's magical affinity is earth, and that does match the type of magic used to make the pitfall traps, no one in the shield hero's party is capable of casting spells that slow things down and speed things up. Besides, it seems very unlikely that the shield hero and his dragon would trip themselves up during the first lap of the race." One of the women countered Malty's words, sounding like she knew a lot about me and my party.

All of this made me narrow my eyes at the cloaked women, as I once again wondered who they were and who they worked for.

Malty gave the group of women one last glare, then turned back to me and my party. "Fine! We'll leave for now, but this isn't over! Mark my words!" She turned after that, beginning to storm off.

"Come back anytime! We'll be glad to publicly humiliate you a third time!" Roxanne yelled back at her, then stuck her tongue out at the princess.

Seeing that Malty was leaving, Motoyasu began to leave too, but turned to me to make his closing remarks. As he talks to us, me, Roxanne, and Plum all notice that he now has some big red bruises on his forehead, his chin, and his nose from when he and Midori slammed into Plum's Wall of Stone earlier. "Remember this Damian. You may have beaten me twice already, but sooner or later, your luck is gonna run out! And when that happens, Ill be-"

I quickly cut him off, giving him a smirk. "Hey, here's a suggestion. How about instead of wasting everyone's time with your trivial revenge schemes, you take part in a study Motoyasu? How many times can a pompous spear hero get smacked in the nuts by a dragon's earth magic before he cant have kids anymore? And while your at it, maybe think about keeping those bruises on your face. I think their an improvement."

My questions and statements made Motoyasu flinch for a moment, but he quickly got his glare back, getting even angrier. "Rrrrrr...Ill...Ill get you back someday! You'll see!" He then turned around slowly, and proceeded to follow Malty out of the village, but was forced to walk funny and use his spear as a cane. It was clear that his nether regions were still in a great deal of pain, as he grumbled and whined to himself as he struggled to keep up with Malty.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all watched them leave, then I commented on Motoyasu's last words to me. "Ya know, that's usually something villains say after the hero beats them and sends them packin."

Hearing this, Roxanne turned to me, getting a thought of her own. "I'm still not sure we've earned the right to be called the heroes of anything yet lord Damian. But I can say one thing for sure. The ones furthest from being called true heroes are definitely them." She said, turning back to where Motoyasu, Malty, their party, and the knights were last seen.

"Very true Roxanne, but remember, I never said we were the heroes either. You know that I'm a demon lord first, and a cardinal hero second. That will never change, but just for today, we were heroes. At least to these people we were." I responded to her with a smile on my face, turning to face the people of Lute village, as they all had expressions of happiness and relief on their own faces.

Roxanne turned to the villagers too, then smiled herself, nodding at my words. "I guess you're right lord Damian. Even if they are a bunch of humans, these people aren't too bad."

Plum got a big smile of her own, then let loose with another roar of happiness, which did surprise me and Roxanne a little, but then made both of us laugh.

A little after that, me and my party are approached by the mayor and his fellow villagers again, all of them with facial expressions of gratitude. "Sir shield hero, you and your companions have helped us once again. I don't know if we'll ever be able to thank you all enough."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned to face the villagers of Lute, and I let out a small sigh before giving the mayor a response. "Forget about it. Its fine. I don't need any thanks in return for my services. All I want is the reward you promised me, so lets have it."

The mayor and his fellow villagers lost their smiles after that, and began to look rather uneasy. "Sir shield hero...we don't have much money to offer, but we're going around the village and collecting as much as we can now. I promise, if you just give us a few more days we can-"

I cut him off, surprising even myself a little bit with the words that ended up coming out of my mouth. "I don't want your money, and I don't need it, nor do I have any interest in becoming lord of this village. I actually gave it some thought before the race, so instead of money, how about some form of transportation? Me and my companions were already planning on leaving this kingdom anyway. Surely you must have a wagon or carriage around that you can spare, right? Oh, and one other thing." I then struck my demon lord pose for the villagers, getting my usual grin back once again. "Never forget these words. The demon lord, Damian Abyss, is the one that did this for you. He saved you humans from the tyranny of Melromarc's royal family. Be sure to spread the word to as many people as you can."

The Lute villagers let out some gasps, surprised by the words I spoke, and more then a few of them were kind of freaked out by that last part, but then they all started smiling at me and looking at me with gratitude once again. "But of course! Thank you so very much sir shield hero! If you'll just give us an hour or two, we can have one of our carriages in near perfect condition for you, and we'll even throw in some food and supplies as well." With that, the villagers got to work right away, fixing up one of their carriages for me, Roxanne, and Plum to keep as our own.

Me and Roxanne smiled as we watched them work, knowing that once its ready, we'll finally have a way to travel to a better kingdom then Melromarc. Preferably one that's kinder to shield heroes and demi-humans. After a minute of watching the villagers work on our new carriage, I turned to Plum, giving her a smile too. "Looks like you joined us at the perfect time Plum. We'll be counting on you a lot from this day forward."

Plum looked back at me, tilting her head slightly, and letting out a confused growl. She didn't really know what I was talking about, but she was always happy to be of help to me when she could.

X

It was dusk by the time the villagers finished their maintenance on our carriage, but we still wanted to give it a test drive. So we got Plum all strapped into the front of the carriage, while I sat up front, holding the rains, and Roxanne jumped into the back, making herself as comfortable as she could among all of our supplies. Once that was done, I gave Plum the go ahead, and she started pulling the carriage down the road, as the villagers of Lute waved goodbye to us from behind. Before we left, the mayor also gave me a kind of pass, and asked if I was interested in becoming a travelling merchant. He told me that the pass he gave me would prevent me from having to pay tolls to enter and leave villages during my and my party's travels. I never really thought about becoming a merchant before, but I still accepted the pass, knowing that it would still be useful to us.

Lute village soon vanished from sight, as Plum continued to pull the carriage down the trail, taking in all the new sights and sounds she could along the way.

Roxanne read more of her magic grimoire to pass the time, while I began thinking about what our next move should be.

Before any of us knew it, night had fallen over the land, so we decided to stop and make camp for the night. Plum moved the carriage off the trail, then I unhooked her from it, and started to prepare dinner for all of us, while Roxanne got a fire going for us.

After we all finished eating, I sat down on a tree stump in front of the fire, Roxanne pulled out some blankets and a pillow from our supplies, and started making herself a makeshift bed on the other side of the fire, and Plum sat herself down next to me.

Once her bed was ready, Roxanne laid down on it, making herself as comfortable as possible. The kitsune then turned on her side, and looked over at me through the flames of our fire. "So, any thoughts on where we go from here lord Damian?"

Hearing her voice, I looked back at Roxanne, then nodded at her. "Yeah. I was thinking we should give this whole travelling merchant thing a try. I don't really know much about being a merchant, but we'll figure it out. Besides, this might be a good way for us to make even more money towards our future kingdom, and it'll also help widen our sphere of influence. You saw how the people of Lute village turned against Malty and Motoyasu and sided with us. Maybe we can get the rest of this kingdom on our side too. I still don't care for humans, but if it'll put pressure on Melromarc's leaders, then its worth it." I explained to her, a devilish grin present on my face.

As Roxanne listened to me, she couldn't help getting a grin of her own. "When you put it that way, it does sound appealing. So we'll be gaining money and support for our own cause, while also damaging the reputations of the king and the other three heroes. Is that about right?"

I nodded at her, imagining all of that in my head, then laughed to myself a bit. "Exactly. And all the while, we'll keep leveling up and getting stronger every day. Who knows? We might even add a few more friends to our party along the way."

Just then, and without warning, Plum moved closer to me, growling softly. She laid down around me, her neck and tail forming a circle around me, keeping me close to her.

This surprised me, but I didn't object, a small blush appearing on my face without me realizing it. "Uhhh...I guess this is okay. Thanks Plum." I started to pet her head gently, feeling the warmth of her body already.

Plum smiled at me, gently growling at me a few more time, before letting out a big yawn.

Seeing all of this, Roxanne started giggling for a minute, then gave me a smirk. "Oh my. You're blushing lord Damian. You're not planning on adding Plum to your harem, are you?"

Roxanne's question really caught me off guard, and made my blush grow, as I flinched before turning back to her. "R-Roxanne...what are you saying? Yes, I do love Plum very much, but she's...I'm not that weird." I drew a blank, and was unable to think of a better way to put it.

Roxanne giggled some more at my reaction, continuing to smirk at me. "Ya know, I've heard that dragons can mate with any living creature. Dragon or not. So if you ask me, its not entirely out of the question lord Damian."

I kept listening to what Roxanne had to say, and was very surprised to hear that, as I turned back to Plum and started to think about it. I was an extremely open minded person, but I was still unsure. After a full five minutes to contemplating it, I eventually shook those thoughts out of my head for the time being, and decided to change the subject. "Anyway, get some sleep Roxanne. I'm not all that tired, so Ill take the first watch."

Roxanne couldn't resist getting a few more giggles in, then pulled her blankets over her body and closed her eyes. "Ill take over in a few hours. For now, good night lord Damian, my love."

I smiled at her, then leaned back against Plum's body, which was surprisingly comfortable, despite how scaly it was. "Pleasant dreams, my sweet Roxanne. You too Plum." I said to both of them, then put my hands behind my head, and started gazing up at the starry night sky.

X

"Lord Damian! Wake up! Lord Damian!"

I heard the sounds of Roxanne's cries, as my eyes slowly opened, greeted by the light of a new day. "Urgh...Roxanne?" I questioned, then yawned before I slowly sat up and smiled at her. "Morning already? Sorry. I must've dozed off. Now, why do you look and sound so freaked out?" I asked, as I looked up at her and saw her shocked and confused facial expression, but I quickly discovered the answer myself. I moved one of my hands to the ground to get up, but I came to a stop when I touched something that wasn't the ground at all.

What ever Id gotten my hand on, it was warm, scaly, and surprisingly soft and squishy. I started to get confused myself, so I quickly looked down to see what exactly I had in my grip. The second I laid eyes on it, my entire face turned beat red, and I felt like my nose would start gushing blood at any moment. There, laying on the ground, sleeping soundly, was a female lizardman beastman. Id estimate her to be about 6 feet and five inches in height, with short maroon colored hair on her head, stopping around the middle of her neck. Her entire body was covered from head to toe with dark lavender colored scales, with the exception of her chest and stomach, where the scales were a lighter shade of lavender. She also had sharp claws on her hands and feet, sharp fangs inside her mouth, a pair of horns on top of either side of her head, and a long tail that went passed her feet.

But the things that really stood out to me were her curves. For a reptilian girl, she had a really nice figure, with some really nice curves. And that's what I had my hand on. One of her breasts. And it didn't help that she was naked.

It took my brain a few seconds to process all of this, but once it did, I quickly gasped, pulled my hand away from her, then quickly stood up and backed away from her. "AH! OH MY LUCIFER!" I turned away from the slumbering lizardwoman, doing my best to keep my eyes on Roxanne, my face still very red. "Roxanne, I swear nothing happened! I don't even know who she is!"

Roxanne found herself blushing slightly at the scene that had just taken place, but she didn't let that stop her from responding. "You know that I trust you, lord Damian, but that's not the issue right now! Plum's gone, and I don't know where she is!"

Suddenly, both of us fell silent, hearing the sound of yawning. We both looked down at the lizardwoman, and saw that all of our yelling had awoken her from her slumber. She rubbed her eyes, then slowly sat up, stretching out for a few seconds. After that, she slowly opened her green eyes, and looked right at me.

For the first minute, it was nothing but silence, except for the wind that gently blew passed the area. But as I continued to look into those green eyes, and the face of the lizardwoman, I found myself recognizing those eyes. "...Plum? Is that you?"

The lizardwoman blinked at me, then tilted her head slightly, looking confused. "Of course its me, lord Damian. Don't you recognize me?"

Me and Roxanne were shocked even further by this point. Plum had somehow transformed from a dragon into a lizardman beastman overnight, was now capable to speech, and didn't seem bothered or confused by any of this herself at all. "WHAT?!" Me and Roxanne both shouted out at the same time, neither of us able to contain our shock and confusion. Our voices echoes out into the forest and over the horizon, scaring some birds out of their trees as well.

**My, my. What a strange development. I guess Plum really didn't wanna be left out, but how will this effect their teamwork, as well as the way our heroes fight from now on? Will the addition of Plum make them stronger, or weaker? How did Plum pull off that transformation? And perhaps the biggest question of all, will Motoyasu's d*** ever fully recover? I don't know about the rest of you, but I certainly hope not.**

**Anyway, please believe me when I say that Ill really try my best to get another story chapter out at some point next week. But if it doesn't happen, please know that the story will go on, and that your patience are always greatly appreciated. Hopefully at least some of you will be enjoying Sword and Shield yourselves.**

**In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the following chapter, and getting to meet Damian and Roxanne's new friend. The transforming, earth magic wielding, dragon/lizardwoman, Plum!**

**Ill be looking forward to all of your reviews, favs, and follows! Hope to see some of you in the Galar region! Later!**


	8. Ch 7 - Demon Lord of the Earth Dragon

**Hello out there everyone! It is so good to be back! Did ya miss me?!**

**Before anything else, let me just say that I am SO sorry for the extremely long delay. I've been explore the Galar region in Pokémon Sword and Shield, and I have to say that it was a blast! If there are any Pokémon fans out there who haven't bought at least one of these games yet, I highly recommend that you do so. **

**Anyway, my work in Galar is done for now, and I'm back to bring you the next chapter of The Demon Lord of the Shield! I hope its worth the wait. Your patience and support has been greatly appreciated. A big thanks to everyone who waited, favorited, and followed my story while I was away.**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters or anything else. I only own my OC's. Damian, Roxanne, and Plum.**

Chapter 7 - Demon Lord of the Earth Dragon

Neither me nor Roxanne knew what to say, or how to react, as both of us just stood on either side of the lizardwoman before us, staring at her in a state of stunned silence. We were both having a very hard time processing it, but it seemed that the lizardwoman was Plum. Our dragon, and the latest addition to our party, who'd hatched from her egg just four days ago. She'd somehow transformed from a dragon, into a lizardman beastman overnight, and for some reason had gained a very voluptuous figure as well, despite being only four days old. We just couldn't believe or understand it, but my status screen confirmed that the reptilian beauty was indeed our Plum, as it showed me her name and status bars above her head.

As we continued to stare at her in silence, trying our best to figure this out, Plum herself was growing even more confused then she already was a minute ago. She began to worry, wondering if she'd done something wrong, as she looked at me, then turned to Roxanne for a minute, then turned back to me. After that, she finally decided to break the silence, looking to me for answers. "Why do you and Roxanne look so surprised lord Damian? Have I done something wrong?"

The sound of her voice made both me and Roxanne finally snap out of our trances, shaking our heads a few times before we both looked at Plum again. However, I found myself unable to look at her straight on, given her current state of undress. Before responding to her questions, I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, but there was still a very red blush present on my face as I spoke. "No Plum. You're fine. But what happened to you? Just last night you were a dragon, and now you're a lizardman, or lizardwoman I guess."

Plum listened to my every word, once again confused by the fact that I wasn't looking at her, but still proceeded to ask me another question. "Do you not like my new form lord Damian?"

"No, of course I like it Plum. You look...very cute and beautiful." It was all I could think to say, still unable to look at her, but after a few more seconds, I did find myself stealing glances at her a few times. _"Not to mention incredibly sexy. Damn, those curves are to die for! I have no idea what's going on here, but I am so happy that this isn't a dream!"_

Almost like she could hear what I was thinking, Roxanne ran over to my side right after that, and wrapped one of her tails around my head, using it to block my vision. Roxanne then folded her arms under her chest, and let out a huff, taking on a serious tone. "Jeez. At least try to stay focused lord Damian." Roxanne found herself blushing a little too, feeling mildly jealous of Plum's new body, even if it was covered in scales. _"Hmph! Lord Damian's never looked at me like that. I love him and Plum dearly, but still."_

With my eyes covered, I was finally able to relax and get my focus back, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thanks Roxanne. I needed that. And sorry about that. Anyway, do you have any idea what happened to you Plum?"

Plum watched everything that Roxanne had just done to me, and her confusion persisted, but her attention was recaptured when she heard my question. "I'm not really sure, but I heard what you and Roxanne were talking about last night before you both fell asleep. It made me feel left out, so I started wishing that I had a body like you two. Then, before I knew it, I was like this. I think I can freely change back into my dragon form though. Please give me a second." She closed her eyes, stood up, and began to focus, then suddenly Plum was engulfed in a puff of purple smoke. When the smoke cleared away, she was back in her dragon form, and was still able to talk. "Alright! I did it!" Plum smiled at her accomplishment, then changed back into her lizardwoman form, then back into her dragon form again in seconds.

With Plum back in her dragon form, Roxanne uncovered my eyes, but was still rather confused by this whole situation. "All of this is very interesting, but if not even Plum knows what's happened to her, then who are we supposed to ask about it?"

Once I was able to see again, I started to think about Roxanne's question, and after a minute of heavy thinking, only one person came to mind. "Beloukas. He seems pretty knowledgeable of all things non-human. If anyone in Melromarc is gonna have an answer, I think he's our best bet."

Roxanne sighed hard at the thought of once again going back to see that man, but she herself didn't have any better suggestions to offer up. "Very well, but lets hurry. We still don't know what's happened to Plum, and for all we know, something else might happen. Something bad."

I nodded in agreement, while Plum just stared at us, not really having any idea of who or what we were talking about. So after a quick breakfast, me and Roxanne hooked Plum back up to our new carriage, then we headed for Melromarc's capital city as fast as we could.

X

Upon arriving back in Melromarc's capital city, we found a place to park our carriage, then we unhooked Plum from it. After making sure there weren't any prying eyes, I removed my cloak, and Plum transformed into her lizardwoman form, as I quickly wrapped my cloak around her, giving her something to wear for now. We figured it would be easier for her to move around town in this form, beastman or not. But since I no longer had my cloak, I was forced to throw the last two balloon monsters I had on my body back into the tall grasses just outside the town. I waved goodbye to them and thanked them for all their help, watching them disappear into the tall grass. With that sorted out, the three of us began our trek to Beloukas' tent.

As me and Roxanne expected, Plum got plenty of stares along the way, but we told her to just ignore them, so she did her best to do so. We arrived at Beloukas' tent without any trouble, and he was surprised when he saw Plum with us.

We explained the situation to the slave trader, then I removed my cloak from Plum's body, and Plum demonstrated her transformation ability to him. Beloukas looked on with pure amazement, as Roxanne used her tails to keep Plum's naughty parts covered while she was in her lizardwoman form. And fortunately for me, when Plum transforms into her dragon form, my cloak opens and ends up on her back, rather then getting ripped to shreds.

Now that he'd heard the situation and seen Plum's transformation for himself, Beloukas was able to give us an explanation. "Tell me shield hero, kitsune, how much do you two know about dragons and how they live?"

Me and Roxanne heard his question, then looked at each other for a moment before turning back to him, as I gave him our best answer. "Not much really. Just the basics I think. Why do you ask?"

Beloukas laughed to himself a bit, then his usual grin appeared on his face as he spoke. "Let me tell you a story. A very long time ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction. Since they could mate with any living creature, their numbers soon exploded, so humans and filolials started taking action against them. In an effort to save their species, the remaining pure blooded dragons gave their lives to combine their cores into one, creating the dragon that came to be known as the Dragon Emperor. However, after a fight with the Filolial Queen, the Dragon Emperor was killed, and his core was shattered into shards and scattered throughout the land. At least that's what the legends say."

"That's a great story and all, but what does any of that have to do with Plum's new transformation ability?" Roxanne questioned the slave trader, having heard that story herself, but failed to see how it related to Plum and her new power at all.

"Patients my dear, I was getting to that." Beloukas said to her, then resumed his explanation. "Its also been said that the Dragon Emperor and his bloodline possessed the ability to transform themselves into lizardmen to avoid danger. Its similar to the ability the Filolial Queen and other filolial kings and queens have that allows them to transform into angelic-looking humans. Since your dragon has that ability herself, its very likely that we can trace her family tree back to the Dragon Emperor. Sadly, generations of breeding with non-dragons has left her far weaker then the Dragon Emperor himself, but with his blood in her veins, she should still grow into a real powerhouse if raised properly."

"So you're saying that Plum is a descendent of the Dragon Emperor? No way! That's so cool!" I declared with a big smile spread across my face, my excitement rising, as I turned back to Plum, as she was now back in her dragon form. "Did ya hear that Plum?! You might even become a dragon empress someday!"

Plum didn't seem to understand any of Beloukas' story, but she was happy to see me so excited, and returned my smile. "I'm not really sure what that means, but Ill always do my best for you lord Damian."

Roxanne could hardly believe it herself, but she managed to contain her excitement, turning to Beloukas for one more answer. "That is impressive, and very good news for us, but that still doesn't explain why her lizardwoman for looks so...mature for her age." The kitsune said with a small blush on her face, still feeling rather envious of Plum's well-developed figure.

Beloukas turned back to Roxanne, and gave her the best answer he could. "Well, when you demi-humans level up as children you become instant adults. Id wager its something similar to that. I suppose you can chalk it up to dragon physiology." The slave trader then turned to me again, as something else crossed his mind. "Oh yes. There is just one more thing that you should be aware of. Dragons of this particular bloodline require a special crest in order to be tamed, and it just so happens that I can give Plum that crest for you. In exchange for 200 silvers of course. Or if you'd prefer, you could easily get 60 gold coins for a dragon like this one. Maybe more."

My excitement started to die down, as I turned to face Beloukas again myself, and started digging through my bag for my money pouch. Personally, Id feel better if Plum had some kind of crest anyway. While in her lizardwoman form, it would keep her safe from Melromarc's laws, or lack of laws, against all demi-humans and beastmen, just like how Roxanne's slave crest keeps her safe. "I've told you before, I don't sell off my companions. EVER. So Ill take the crest, but only because the king and princess have it out for us." I took out the 200 silver coins, and gave them to Beloukas, with my facial expression and tone more then slightly annoyed.

The slave trader laughed some more when he received his payment, his usual grin still present, as he went to get his supplies necessary for the crest. "Anything for my best customer." He returned a few minutes later, and got started right away.

Plum watched him with a confused expression, not sure what he was doing, then turned to me for answers. "Lord Damian, what's going on?"

Me and Roxanne looked back at her, keeping our distance for now, but still tried to reassure Plum. "You're gonna be fine Plum. This might hurt a little, but just try to relax. Its for your own good."

Beloukas painted the crest onto Plum's chest, then took several steps back himself. Once he was at a close but safe distance, the crest started to take effect.

A magic circle appeared on the ground below Plum, and the crest on her chest started to glow, causing her some distress, as she quickly started fighting back against it. "Ah! Lord Damian! It hurts! What is this?!" She trashed all around, but the magic circle kept her in place.

Still, that didn't stop me and Roxanne from worrying about her, even if only a little bit. "Just try to endure it Plum. It'll be over soon." Roxanne said to her, remembering when she got her slave crest, knowing from experience how this sort of thing feels.

Fortunately, it only lasted about a minute, as the magic circle vanished, the crest stopped glowing. This made Plum slowly start to calm down, as she took several deep breaths, and lowered her head.

This made me and Roxanne walk over to her, and we both gave her some gentle rubs on top of her head, smiling at her. "The worst is over Plum. Take it from me. You did great." Roxanne said to her in a comforting tone, as I turned back to Beloukas once more.

"Thanks once again for your services. I'm not sure when we'll be back, but expect to see us again soon." I told the slave trader, then once Plum had her strength back, she transformed back into her lizardwoman form, and we left Beloukas' tent. We knew we couldn't let Plum continue to walk around dressed in just my cloak, so me and Roxanne decided that it was time to pay another familiar face a visit.

Beloukas watched us leave and waved us off, giving us a few parting words before we were out of earshot. "Each visit from you brings new surprises, shield hero. I look forward to seeing what your next visit will bring."

X

The familiar face that we had in mind was our one and only blacksmith and weapon shop owner, Erhard. The three of us arrived at his shop fairly quickly, and walked through the front door right as he emerged from his back room.

The second he saw us, his eyes were drawn to Plum, but he turned his gaze back to me before speaking. "Come on. You know you don't have to come here every time you get a new slave and wanna show em off."

We all stopped just a few feet from his counter, then I addressed his comment. "First of all, this is Plum, and she's not slave. Secondly, that's not why we're here. If I really wanted to show off, Id do it in front of the three cardinal stooges."

"Okay, the fox girl I can understand, but a lizardman beastman? You've got some seriously weird tastes kid." Erhard heard what I just said, but couldn't help saying what was on his mind at that moment, his tone one of mild disbelief.

I shot him a small glare after that, feelingly mildly insulted by his words and his tone. "Hey, watch it."

However, our conversation was interrupted by Plum, who stepped closer to Erhard's counter. Her gaze seemed to be transfixed on the sandwich he had placed there, as she bent over slightly to give it a few good sniffs, then we all heard the sound of her stomach growling. "Lord Damian, what kind of food is this? It smells really good."

This caught Erhard off guard, as he turned his attention towards the lizardwoman before him. "Uhhh...Did you wanna try a bite?"

Plum raises her head, looking back at him, and gave him a single nod. "Oh, yes please. If you don't mind."

"Please try not to overdo it, okay Plum?" Roxanne asked her, starting to get a bad feeling, like she knew what was about to happen.

Erhard didn't sound worried though, as he gave Roxanne a reassuring smile and wave of his hand. "Hey now, its alright miss. How big of a bite could she possibly take anyway?"

Just then, in the blink of an eye, Plum transformed into her dragon form in a big puff of smoke. She then opened her mouth up wide, picked up the sandwich in her jaws, then bit down on it and swallowed it all down in a single bite. After the sandwich was gone, the dragon smiled contently, licking her mouth clean before speaking. "Mmmm...So good."

Roxanne sighed after she saw all of that, placing her hands on her hips. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

At the same time, Erhard looked at Plum with his mouth agape, with a shocked and pained look in his eyes, as he mourned the loss of his lunch in silence.

As for me, I couldn't help chuckling at this whole scene, then I moved over to Erhard's counter with a smirk on my face. "I could've warn ya that was comin. Here's a tip. Next time, don't diss me or my girls."

After another few seconds, Erhard looked down and let out a heavy sigh. With his mourning complete, he turned back to me, his facial expression and tone filled with exasperation. "Okay Mr. Demon Lord, you wanna tell me the whole story behind this?" He asked, gesturing to Plum.

Me and Roxanne then took turns telling Erhard everything that Beloukas told us about Plum's abilities, as well as her possible origin. While we did that, Plum started to walk around Erhard's shop, taking in the sights of all the new weapons and armor around her.

As soon as we were done with our explanation, Erhard nodded, understanding all of it, but was also quite surprised by some of it. "Ah, so that's how it is. Anyway, if your not here to show off this dragon empress, then what's brought you back through my door?"

"We're here to buy some clothes. As you can imagine, Plum cant keep walking around in just a cloak, and she cant stay in her dragon form all the time. That might work for most dragons, but Plum isn't like other dragons." I answered him, refusing to even entertain the idea of Plum living outside during all hours of the day like normal carriage pulling creatures.

"There are plenty of races of demi-humans and beastmen that are able to transform, so I know that special clothing made for this type of situation exists. I also know that this kingdom probably doesn't bother making clothing for demi-humans or beastmen, but is there at least some kind of shop in town that might have what we're looking for?" Roxanne added, sharing my feelings on the matter.

"Sorry, but the kind of clothes your talking about are special order only, so I haven't got any on hand right now. My advice, try a dress maker." Erhard was nice enough to even point out his own personal recommendation on my map of town, informing us that the owner of that particular shop is always happy to make outfits, even for demi-human and beastman customers. Not that she gets many of them of course.

Even so, this information was good enough for us. Me, Roxanne, and Plum all thanked Erhard for his help, then Plum transformed back into her lizardwoman form again, and we left his shop. The three of us then took to the streets once again, following our map to the dress shop that Erhard recommended to us, and hoping that they'd be able to get us an outfit for Plum.

X

Finding the shop was easy, but after we walked in and explained our situation to the female tailor who worked there, we were surprised by how open minded and helpful she was. She knew my reputation, as well as Melromarc's view on demi-humans and beastmen, yet she seemed eager to accept the challenge of making an outfit for Plum. As she finished taking all of Plum's measurements, she even smiled at Plum and started paying her some complements. "Wow! I hope you don't mind me saying so, but for a lizard beastman, you sure are pretty. I'm actually a little jealous."

Plum smiled back at the tailor, happy to receive such praise. "Really? You think so? Well thank you. Lord Damian did tell me that I was very cute and beautiful."

"Id definitely say so. So what exactly is your relationship with Damian?" The dress shop owner asked Plum, wanting to know more, and was kind of geeking out over this whole situation for some reason.

"I'm lord Damian's companion, and a member of his harem. Just like Roxanne." Plum answered with a smile, making it sound very casual, having heard me and Roxanne talking about it last night.

Plum's answer made the tailor gasp, then fall into a state of stunned silence. Her entire face slowly turned bright red, while her mind began to race with some rather dirty images.

That's when me and Roxanne stepped in, both of us blushing a little too. Roxanne quickly pulled Plum aside, and covered her mouth, which proved to be a bit difficult with the shape of Plum's lizard mouth. "Plum you cant say things like that to just anyone." Roxanne whispered to Plum, and Plum's confusion grew once again.

As for me, I took a moment to collect my thoughts, then turned to face the tailor. However, if I'm being honest, I didn't hate what Plum said at all. "Never mind that. Plum hatched from her egg just a few days ago. Me and Roxanne still have a lot to teach her. Anyway, why are you so eager to make a transforming outfit for her? Id think that most people in this town would refuse a job request from demi-humans or beastmen." I questioned her, hoping to change the subject.

The dress shop owner heard my question, then snapped out of her thoughts and cleared her throat, taking a moment to compose herself before responding. "Oh yes. Well, the truth is that its a little odd, but I've actually always wanted to try making dresses and other outfits for demi-humans and beastmen. Believe it or not, their inhuman features and appearances actually fill me with all kinds of inspiration. Its a little embarrassing to talk about out loud though." Some nervous laughter escaped her lips, but she wasn't finished speaking just yet. "Sadly, I'm afraid I cant make an outfit that transforms with the wearer without magic thread."

Her final comment made me raise on eyebrow at her, followed by another question. "And what exactly is magic thread?"

"Its a special kind of thread made from the wearer's own mana. Its impossible to make transforming clothing without it I'm afraid." The tailor informed me, speaking in an apologetic tone.

By this time, Roxanne had uncovered Plum's mouth, and they both turned back to the tailor. "I've always wondered how transforming clothes were made. So where do we get magic thread? I'm guessing Plum cant just make it herself."

"Of course not. You need a special kind of crystal to make magic thread. I'm sorry, but I don't have any on hand. The lady who owns the magic shop probably has one though. If you bring me enough magic thread, Ill make Plum the best outfit you've ever seen! You can count on it!" The tailor was suddenly full of energy, her eyes sparkling as she made us that vow.

We were all a little surprised by her sudden burst of enthusiasm, but we thanked her for her help and cooperation. And as we turned to leave her shop I let out a sigh, giving the back of my head a few good scratches. "I'm detecting a pattern here. Well, I guess its off to the magic shop for us. Lets go girls." With that, the three of us headed to the magic shop, hoping that this wild goose chase would finally end there.

X

Just like back at the dress shop, we informed the magic shop owner of our situation, as well as everything the dress shop owner told us.

The older woman listened to our story, then turned and gestured to her spinning wheel as she spoke to us. "So you need some magic thread to make an outfit for your new friend. Ordinarily you could weave it here, but I'm afraid now's not a good time. The magic crystal in my spinning wheel broke, and I haven't had time to procure a new one."

_"Oh come on! Are you kidding me?!" _I thought to myself, but remained calm and collected on the outside. "If these magic crystals are expensive, we've got plenty of money on us right now."

The magic shop owner turned back to me, and gave me a response that made me sigh. "They are expensive, but I'm afraid that's not the issue. You see, their rather hard to come by, but Ill ask around and see if I can procure a new one soon. It might take a while though. I am sorry. I wish I could do more for you."

"Oh well. I guess we'll just have to be careful in towns and villages for a while." Roxanne commented, and I nodded in agreement.

Plum also promised that she'd be careful too, then we all said our thanks to the magic shop owner, and left her shop. Since we still had plenty of daylight left, we decided to leave town and give the whole merchant thing a try, as well as spread our influence to every town and village we end up visiting along the way. We made our way back to our carriage, Plum transformed back into her dragon form, we hooked her back up to the carriage, then I put my cloak back on and off we went, following one of our maps to the closest town or village we hadn't yet visited.

X

The three of us were on the road for hours, and ended up travelling quite a long way. So much so that we weren't able to see Melromarc anymore, not that any of us were complaining about that. During that time, me and Roxanne did our best to teach Plum as much as we could, seeing as how she seemed to get confused quite often about a little of everything. We even took the time to tell Plum our individual life stories, as well as everything that happened to us over the course of our journey so far. The three of us also took every chance we got to stop, practice some new spells, and battle some monsters to raise our levels.

Plum was now pulling the carriage up a mountain road, with Roxanne handling the reins. Thanks to all of our efforts up to that point, my level had risen to 28, Roxanne's rose to 31, and Plum made it to level 23. Much to my and Roxanne's excitement, and Plum's amazement, Roxanne's fourth tail grew in mere seconds after she reached level 30. This tail brought with it a boost to Roxanne's HP and defense stats, which I made a mental note of, as my curiosity grew even more, wondering what her fifth tail would do when it finally arrived. But that would have to wait another ten levels, and for the time being, I was just enjoying this peaceful time travelling with Roxanne and Plum. In fact, all three of us were having a good time, with smiles on our faces as Plum continued to pull the carriage.

Eventually, Plum stopped someone up ahead, and glanced behind her as she informed me of it. "Lord Damian look. There's someone up ahead."

Me and Roxanne saw a lone human man running up the road, but from the way he was moving, he looked exhausted. "Hmmm...Get us up next to him Plum." I said to her, figuring that this was at least worth looking into.

Plum nodded at me, then picked up the pace a little, slowing down again as soon as our carriage was right next to the distressed man.

Once we caught up to him, Roxanne looked down at him from where she was sitting and wasted no time questioning him. "You seem to be in a hurry. Is something wrong?"

The man wheezed a few times before answering her, coming to a stop, then turning to face us. "Please! I beg of you! Give me a lift in your carriage! I have to get this medicine to the village just passed the mountain! Its urgent!" He showed us a bottle of medicine, then turned and pointed out the location of his village for us.

After hearing the man out, I turned to Plum, told her to stop, and quickly got an idea to decrease travel time. "Plum, do you think you can extend your magic far enough to reach that part of the path over there?" I pointed to a part of the path that was on the other side of a steep cliff, which would take us roughly ten minutes to reach if we stayed on the road.

Plum followed my finger, then turned back to me and nodded. "Of course lord Damian. Easily."

Having received confirmation from Plum, I turned back to the man, and gave him my terms. "Okay, here's the deal. We'll take you to your village for one silver coin, and a favor, which we will discuss later."

The man's obvious worry grew a little more after hearing my terms, so he responded by continuing to beg for my help with a pleading tone of voice. "But I...already used all of my money to buy this medicine. I don't have any money on me right now, but I promise Ill pay you after we reach my home."

After thinking it over for a few seconds, I shrugged, then lowered my hand down to the man. "Good enough. Just don't try to cop out on us later. Now climb aboard."

"Thank you. You have my word, Ill pay you what you want." The man said to me in a grateful tone, then took my hand, and climbed on board our carriage.

With our passenger on board, I turned back to Plum, and gave her the go ahead. "Okay Plum, you know what to do."

"I'm on it lord Damian." Plum walked to the edge of the cliff, then stomped one of her feet on the ground. "Stone Bridge!" Using her earth magic, Plum created a bridge made of stone that extended from where she stood, all the way over to the road on the other side of the cliff, much to our passenger's awe. Plum then kept moving, pulling the carriage over her Stone Bridge, saving us plenty of travel time. She did this several more time, saving us even more time, as we soon found ourselves approaching the front gate of the man's village.

As we got closer to the gate, another man walked out in front of the gate, holding a spear. Plum came to a stop, and the gate guard informed us that we had to pay a toll. Fortunately, that's what the merchant pass was for. As soon as I showed it to the guard, he opened the gate and let us pass for free. Several minutes after that, we arrived in our passenger's village, and he led us to his house. Plum stopped once we arrived, and I told her and Roxanne to stay with the carriage, while I went inside with the villager to collect my fee, and see what the trouble was with my own eyes.

It turned out that his mother was very sick, and was stuck in bed, unable to talk without coughing. Fortunately for the mother and son, I picked up more then a few medical tips and tricks from my medical grimoire. "You go boil some water. Ill give her the medicine. And don't worry about it. I wont raise your fee."

The man listened to me, giving me the bottle containing the medicine for his mother, then left to go boil some water like I told him to.

Once he was gone, I equipped my Book Shield, then gave his mother the medicine, making use of the skills that came with this particular shield.

After she swallowed the last of the medicine, the elderly woman began to glow, as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much."

Upon hearing his mother's voice, the man hurried back into the room, and was very pleasantly surprised to see his mother looking much better. "Mother...the medicine is working already?"

The man's mother turned to face her son, then smiled and nodded at him. "Yes. The pain went away almost instantly." She then turned to me, and thanked me once again.

With the crisis averted, me and the man walked back outside his home, as he grabbed a bag on his way out. "Kind sir, please tell me, what kind of magic did you use to heal my mother?"

"That's not important. Now for my payment." I reminded him, already preparing to tell him about the favor I wanted from him.

But before that, he handed me the bag he grabbed on his way outside. "Yes, of course. This should be worth about one silver."

I accepted the bag from him, and looked inside, seeing that it was filled with meat, carrots, and potatoes. "This'll do. Now for that favor. If anyone asks who saved your dear mother's life, tell them that it was the work of the demon lord, Damian Abyss."

The man thought he misheard me at first, but my words slowly sunk in, as he slowly nodded at me, looking a bit shaken by my words. "Y-Yes...Of course. As you wish."

I grinned at him after getting the confirmation I was looking for, then turned back to Plum, Roxanne, and our carriage. "Good. And don't be afraid. Me and my companions don't harm humans like you. We only provide help and support, provided the humans in question pay us fairly of course. Never forget those words. Farewell." I walked back over to the carriage, climbed into the back, then me and my companions continued on our way.

The villager just stood there for a few minutes, watching us leave, slowly but surely processing everything we did for him, as well as the final words I spoke to him.

X

From that point on, me, Roxanne, and Plum spent the next week on the road, travelling all over the kingdom of Melromarc. In that time, me and Roxanne taught Plum how to read so we could all study our magic grimoire, either together or individually. We also stopped in every town or village we passed, buying and selling different goods, and healing several more sick people. Me and Roxanne told Plum not to change into her lizardwoman form in front of other people, but that ended up leading to a misunderstanding. We neglected to tell her not to transform into her dragon form indoors, and as a result, we woke up one morning to see Plum in her dragon form, curled up on a crushed bed.

Still, despite a few minor problems, word of the travelling demon lord merchant spread across Melromarc like wildfire. And before we knew it, we were starting to get job requests from some people who were more on the wealthy side. Our latest client was an accessory merchant from the merchant guild named Hickwaal who requested passage on our carriage, and promised to pay us handsomely. After talking it over, the three of us accepted his request, then we all hit the road right away. Naturally, Plum was once again drawing the carriage, Roxanne sat up front and held onto the reins, while I sat in the back with our client.

The first half of the ride was quiet, until Hickwaal decided to break the silence, speaking to me in a friendly tone and a facial expression to match. "You know, I really cant believe I'm riding with our demon lord of the earth dragon."

At first, my mind was somewhere else entirely, but hearing those last few words from him brought me straight back to reality. "Demon lord of the earth dragon?"

"Indeed. You've gained quite the reputation. In a carriage drawn by a dragon that commands the earth, a demon lord travels from town to town and heals the sick, for the right offering of course. I must say, many townsfolk had their doubts about accepting anything from a demon lord, and some even feared the very thought of it, but word travels fast in these parts and no one could argue with the results of your visits." The accessory merchant explained to me, sounding pretty relaxed about the whole "demon lord" thing himself.

As I listened to him, I found myself grinning, and sinking back into my thoughts for a moment. _"Demon lord of the earth dragon, huh? I like the sound of that. This world is awesome. Back home, the only thing Id end up being called is the shut-in NEET of the land of make believe."_

Having heard our conversation, Plum glanced behind her as she walked, and proceeded to question me about the things she'd heard. "Demon lord of the earth dragon? Does that mean I'm part of the stories too?"

"Plum, me and lord Damian have told you before not to talk in front of people we don't know." Roxanne reminded her in a stern tone of voice, holding one finger in front of her mouth.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry." Plum lowered her head in an apologetic way, then turned back to the path in front of us.

Hickwaal still heard all of that, and turned to Plum with a surprised look on his face. "Oh my. Your dragon really can talk. So the stories are true."

Once again, I snapped out of my thoughts, then let out a sigh. "Well, no use in hiding it anymore. And there's no need to apologize Plum. Its fine."

"Lord Damian, there's a large gang blocking our path up ahead." Roxanne informed me of the sudden appearance of danger, and I stood up and moved to the front of the carriage to take a look for myself.

Just like she said, there was a large group of bandits blocking the road ahead. All of them were holding weapons, and each one had a threatening grin on their face, which was accompanied by some rather cocky sounding laughter.

"Okay, you can stop right there!" The bandit at the front of the group yelled out to us, and we assumed he was their leader.

Roxanne pulled on the reins gently, giving Plum the signal to stop, and she did, just a few yards away from the bandits.

After that, the bandit's leader spoke up again, pointing his sword at us. "Even as far as dragons go, that's a pretty fancy one you've got there stranger. We heard an accessory merchant was hitchin a ride with you. We know your in there! Come on out!"

Hickwaal flinched the moment he heard the bandit's calls, and started cowering in fear, moving further back into the carriage.

_"I knew helping these humans would get us into trouble at some point." _I thought to myself, then let out an annoyed sigh.

"Just hand em over, then we'll let you escape with at least your lives in tact." Another bandit said to me, sounding just as cocky as his boss.

"Let me guess. You'll take everything but our lives before you let us walk away. Am I right?" I asked in a knowing tone, having seen this sort of thing many times in movies and anime.

The bandit leader let out a few laughs, then gave me an answer. "You catch on quickly kid."

One of the bandits then turned his attention to Roxanne, getting a smirk spread across his face. "Ya know, that one's pretty hot for a demi-human. What do ya say we have some fun with her before we sell her off boys?" He asked his fellow bandits, and a lot of them got excited, thinking about his idea.

However, me, Roxanne, and Plum didn't find his words to be all that amusing, as Roxanne was already reaching for her sword with murderous intent all over her face. "Lord Damian, its okay if we kill these humans, right?"

I wasn't much better, as I looked about ready to snap the bandit's neck for even thinking about touching my number one girl. "Its just a bunch of no good bandits Roxanne. Nobody would miss em."

"I know I wouldn't." Plum added, glaring at the bandits and throwing in a few growls as well.

"Hold up! Before ya go and start somethin ya cant finish, you should know that we've got a class upgraded body guard who'll make hamburger out of you. Show em what you've got sensei." One of the bandits informed us, then he and several other bandits stepped aside, revealing the body guard he spoke so highly of.

_"Class upgraded? That's new, but he shouldn't be anything special if he's teamed up with these gutter punks." _I thought to myself, not impressed or intimidated by their bodyguard in the slightest. "Roxanne, Plum, I don't think you two will need me for this, but Ill step in if things start going south. Just make sure to leave at least some of them alive so we can interrogate them afterward." With that, me and Roxanne jumped down from the carriage, and unhooked Plum from it.

From there, Roxanne wasted no time drawing her sword, and making use of her magic. "Hide Mirage!" In a flash, she disappeared, vanishing from the bandit's sight completely.

This caught the bandits by surprise, as they all lost their grins, grabbed their weapons, and raised their guards.

But while their focus was on the invisible Roxanne, they failed to notice Plum's attack before it was too late. "Sand Trap!" Stomping one foot on the ground, Plum used her magic to turn the ground all around the bandits into quicksand, causing them to start sinking in it, rendering them helpless. Plum's attack wasn't over yet though. Seconds after they started sinking, a huge pillar of sand shot up from the Sand Trap, propelling the bandits into the air, much to their continued shock.

The bandits yelled out as they flew into the air, then started falling back down mere seconds after that. But before they hit the ground, which Plum turned back into solid earth, Roxanne slashed each and every bandit with her sword just before they hit the ground, maintaining her invisibility the entire time. Roxanne's attacks, combined with the impact of hitting the ground after being shot up into the air was more then enough to incapacitate every last bandit. So while they were down for the count, Roxanne reappeared, then me and her tied up all of the bandits good and tight, and took away all their weapons.

It took all of the bandits about an hour to wake up, and needless to say, they were all shocked by the state they found themselves in when they did. Some of then tried to struggle, but that came to a halt quickly, as soon as they saw me, Roxanne, and Plum all looking down at them, ready to attack at the slightest sign of resistance. As the reality of their hopeless situation finally sunk in, one of them spoke up, admitting to us that they were hired by another trader to mug Hickwaal, steal all of his stuff, then kill him.

Upon hearing this, Hickwaal looked very displeased, and even a little sad. "So one of my fellow traders sold me out, huh?"

"Just what Id expect from humans. Your fellow trader probably felt jealous or threatened by you. So what do we do with these weaklings now?" I asked Hickwaal, sounding even more displeased then he was.

"We usually hand them over to the local guards, but Ill let you handle the decision making." Hickwaal turned to me, answered my question, then took a few steps back.

Mere seconds after that, several of the bandits started smirking at me, and questioned me in a cocky tone. "Hey you, your the shield hero, aren't ya? Id say its pretty obvious, since the only weapon ya seem to have on ya is that shield."

I turned to the bandit in question as soon as he opened his mouth, then I listened to his words, and quickly deduced what he was getting at. "The second your out of this, your gonna run straight to the guards and tell them that your just a bunch of innocent adventurers who were attacked by the evil shield hero. You'll probably also tell them that me and my party treated you like crap and stole all your stuff, when in reality, all of your weapons and treasures are hidden somewhere in this forest. Does that about sum it up?"

All of the bandits started smirking at that point, as another one of them raised his head and answered me. "Yeah, that's right. And you can be damn sure that they'll take our word over the shield hero's. Everyone in this kingdom knows about your reputation very well." The bandit finished speaking, then he and his gang started laughing to themselves, thinking that they were all in the clear already.

While they were laughing, me and Roxanne glanced at each other. "What do you think lord Damian?" Roxanne asked me, and I was well aware of what she was asking me exactly.

I gave her a nod, then turned back to the immobilized group of bandits. "Just one should be enough Roxanne. Choose your least favorite."

Roxanne returned my nod, then drew her sword once again, turning back to the bandits as well. "Great minds really do think alike lord Damian." With a dark look in her eyes, Roxanne walked over to the smirking bandits, and in one quick movement, sliced one of their heads clean off, killing that particular bandit.

The bandit in question was the same one who talked about "having some fun" with Roxanne before selling her off as a slave, and once the other bandits saw their fellow bandit's head fall to the ground, they all stopped their laughter right away. A few of them even gasped, as their smirks were replaced with expressions of shock and fear.

After that, it was my turn to start making threats, as I bent over, picked up the severed bandit head, and held it up for all the remaining bandits to see. "This was a warning. If you plan on causing trouble for me and my companions, you'll end up like your friend here. Plum." I turned to Plum for a moment, and tossed the severed bandit head at her.

Plum caught the severed head in her mouth, and crushed its skull with just a single bite, like it was an apple. The dragon then proceeded to chew the head, and swallow it, with blood dripping from her jaws the entire time. After finishing her snack, Plum licked her lips clean, then smiled at me. "Thanks lord Damian. I was feeling pretty hungry. Actually, I'm still feeling pretty hungry." Plum's stomach let out a few growls, making her blush slightly, and making the bandits flinch with fear, as they all knew where her main course would come from.

"H-Hey! Wait a minute! Your one of the four cardinal heroes! You cant commit murder!" With some small beads of sweat dripping down his face, one of the bandits raised his voice to me, trying to get himself and his gang out of this situation.

Before responding to him, I sighed, then gave the bandits a dark stare, accompanied by an equally dark tone. "How many times do I have to tell people. I'm a demon lord first, and the shield hero second. I never swore an oath to protect any humans, or this kingdom. Besides, I'm sure you've killed more then your fair share of people yourselves, and it is a demon lord's job to punish sinners."

Many of the bandits were shaking by that point, desperately trying to figure out a way to make it out of this situation alive. Until finally, another one of them spoke up, coming up with one more, rather desperate idea. "Wait! That's right! Your also known as the demon lord of the earth dragon! That means you like making deals, right?!"

I took a moment to consider the bandit's words, then gave him a grin, getting a few ideas of my own. "That depends. Make me an offer."

X

After a short discussion, me and the bandits reached an agreement, thought they did so very reluctantly. Even so, they knew that it was their only way of surviving the mess they'd gotten themselves into. So, after me and Roxanne untied them, the bandits led all of us to their hideout. From there, we watched as they loaded everything from their hideout onto our carriage. The deal we made was that we'd let them live, in exchange for everything they own, and if we ever end up finding out that any of them went to the knights with intent to frame us, we'd hunt them down and make them pay dearly for it. Having seen what we were capable of, the bandits believed our threats right away, and made good on their word to give us everything they own, but they did so with a great deal of reluctance in their tones and facial expressions.

However, whenever one of the bandits complained or muttered to himself, Roxanne gave him a small, but painful stab with her sword. "Don't complain. You attacked us, and we defeated you. Just be happy lord Damian decided to let you live."

While Roxanne supervised the bandits, I decided to have a chat with Hickwaal about this turn of events. "I have to say sir shield hero, I'm very impressed by you. You've demonstrated some real talent with the way you and your comrades handled those bandits, as well as the way you bargained with them, treating their lives as merchandise. You are truly a shinning example of the true trader's spirit. Something lacking in today's youth." Hickwaal said to me before I could say anything to him, a big smile present on his face as he praised me.

I waited for him to finish speaking, then responded with an expression and tone of displeasure. "Flattery will get ya nowhere. You realize you caused all of this, right? I hope you've got something good to offer me as compensation for it."

Hickwaal kept his smile, and his cool, then made me the best offer he could. "Worry not sir shield hero. I'm prepared to offer you all the knowledge and connections I possess. It is all at your command. You see, I've taken a real liking to you sir shield hero."

The feeling wasn't all that mutual, but I had to admit, his offer was intriguing. As a high ranking member of the trader's guild, I knew he must have a lot of connections. If I made use of them, I could spread the word of the demon lord and his companions that much faster. So, after thinking it over, I accepted Hickwaal's offer.

The accessories merchant then spent the next few days teaching me how to process precious metals and other minerals, use crafting tools, make my own accessories, and how to give these items mana. I manage to learn several spells and skills from it all, and even made some of my own accessories out some of the gems and other materials we got from the bandits. Me, Roxanne, and Plum also kept our merchant business going the entire time as well, buying, selling, and trading any items or materials we could. We also continued to spread the world of the demon lord of the earth dragon, since that's the title most people already knew me by. During that time, Hickwaal also introduced me to a good number of other successful merchants, and through them, I heard some stories about the other cardinal heroes.

According to the stories Id heard, Motoyasu saved a village to the southwest that was stricken by famine by introducing a legendary crop. I was at least 90% sure that it was his royal slut's idea though. I also heard that Ren's been moving southeast, and apparently slayed a dragon not too long ago. The list of information on Itsuki was rather long and varied though, and I wasn't sure which parts were actually true. None of the information on any of them matter that much to me though. In my eyes, the three of them were nothing but idiotic showboaters.

We eventually parted ways with Hickwaal, and I had to admit, everything I gained from him was actually pretty helpful, especially one thing in particular. He ended up giving me the deed to a fairly large gem mine, which was a surprise to me and Roxanne, but Plum wasn't sure what a gem mine was, so naturally, she wasn't so surprised. After saying our goodbyes to the accessories seller, me, Roxanne, and Plum decided to check out the mine he gave us the deed to.

Upon arriving at the mine, one of the men who worked in it confirmed that the deed was real, and was very surprised to see it in our possession. The man then asked us if there was anything he could do for us, now that we were the mine's owners, and we told him that we were looking for the type of gemstone needed to make magic thread. The man was once again surprised, and a bit uneasy after he heard this from us, which made me and Roxanne raise our eyebrows at him, as we both wondered what the problem was. As soon as the mine worker finished his explanation, me, Roxanne, and Plum talked it over for a while, and decided that we might need a little assistance on this one.

X

After a quick trip back to Melromarc, the three of us headed for the magic shop, and informed the owner of our exploits, as well as our current situation. Naturally, neither me nor Roxanne was too keen on teaming up with a human, but the situation called for this particular human's skillset, so we sucked it up this time. The elderly woman understood, and agreed to accompany us to the mine to retrieve a magic thread making gemstone. She was also very impressed by some of our stories, and the fact that we were able to find the gemstone in question so quickly, despite the catch that went along with it. After a long carriage ride, Plum came to a stop outside the location the mine worker gave us, which turned out to be a temple that was connected to the mine. Me, Roxanne, and the magic shop owner exited the carriage, and Roxanne untied Plum from it, then the four of us headed into one of the tunnels that was connected to the temple.

Roxanne made a blue fireball appear in her hand to give us some light, and as we took our first few steps into the tunnel, the magic shop owner gave us the rundown of the temple we'd just entered. "A long time ago, this temple was the base of operations for a truly wicked alchemist. It is very strange though. I had no idea it was connected to a mine."

"The mine worker we talked to said no one's been inside these caves since monsters started making themselves at home here. Everyone be sure to stay alert." I commented, though I wasn't too afraid of or worried about any monsters that could appear. My party had gotten a lot stronger ever since Plum was added to our ranks.

The four of us kept walking through the tunnel, heading deeper and deeper into the temple, until we came across two large treasure chests. We all slowed to a stop, and looked down at them, as well as the inscriptions next to each of them. One of the two chests was wide open, while the other was still closed. All of us turned our attention toward the open chest first, as we quickly discovered that it was empty, but that didn't stop the magic shop owner from reading the ancient writing on the stone next to it. "We fervently pray that this seed never makes it out of this tunnel. It is a horribly twisted manifestation of our wish that nobody feel the pangs of hunger ever again in this world."

"Sounds like somebody made off with a bad seed then, but didn't they read the inscription? It wasn't entirely clear, but it definitely sounds like that seed should never see the light of day. Who'd be stupid enough to take something when they know its dangerous?" Roxanne asked in a rhetorical tone, already expecting exactly that level of stupidity from pretty much any human.

At her question, I got a knowing and annoyed look on my face, turning to glance at her, my tone matching my facial expression. "I can think of a few people."

Roxanne glanced right back at me once she heard my words, then we both got the exact same image of the three cardinal stooges in our heads. Seconds after that, Roxanne's expression and tone became the same as my own. "You know what? I'm sorry I asked."

Plum and the magic shop owner looked at us with confusion, wondering why we looked and sounded the way we did. Fortunately, Plum was able to change the subject when she turned her attention to the other, closed chest, and spoke up. "So what does this one say? Did whoever was here take what ever was inside this chest too?"

Me and Roxanne snapped out of it once we heard Plum's voice, then the two of us and the magic shop owner turned our attention towards the other chest. "Lets find out, shall we?" The magic shop owner asked, then walked over to the second chest, and read its inscription out loud for us. "Should the seed ever leave this place, we leave behind this, our last and perhaps greatest treasure. We're not sure how far the world will have come by the time the need for this treasure arises, but we pray that when that day comes, a hero will appear, and use this treasure to put an end to our mistake once and for all."

The words read out loud by the elderly mage only made me, Roxanne, and Plum even more curious, as I approached the chest. "Well, lets see what this great treasure looks like." With all eyes on me and the chest, I slowly opened it, then we all looked inside, and had mixed reactions at what we saw.

The treasure we saw inside, as luck would have it, was a shield. This particular shield was a little more then double the size of my legendary shield, length wise. It was blue in color, with silver edges, and it was kind of spade shaped, with the top being far wider then the bottom. The top of the shield had five blue blades on it as well, looking perfectly symmetrical, with smaller blades on the outside, slightly larger blades next to those, and one large blade in the center.

"It looks like a shield, and a pretty nice one too. Why would anyone leave something like this behind?" Plum asked, her tone one of curiosity.

Still holding her flame, Roxanne came up with the most likely answer she could think of. "I'm guessing its because this treasure is a shield. Given lord Damian's reputation, and the fact that he's the shield hero, whoever took the seed probably saw that this treasure was a shield, thought of lord Damian, then left this shield behind in disgust. No offense lord Damian."

"None taken Roxanne. You might be right, especially if whoever took the seed was one of the three cardinal stooges." After replying to her, I turned my gaze back to the shield, and decided to take a closer look at it. I reached down and picked it up, lifting it out of the chest. Unlike all other weapons I've tried to touch, the shield didn't shock me when I went to pick it up. The shield had some weight to it, and it felt cold to the touch, like Id picked up a piece of metal that had been left out in the snow for days. It didn't bother me too much though, and the more I looked at the shield, the more I agreed with Plum. This was a really nice looking shield, and I felt some powerful magic coming off of it as I held it in my hands. After a full minute, I began to wish that I had this shield in my arsenal of shields.

Just then, as if on cue, my status screen appeared in front of my vision on its own, showing me a screen that I hadn't seen before. This surprised me, and made me take a small step back, but I was quick to read the words I saw on this new screen. "Weapon copy system? Well, lets see what happens." Focusing on one of the empty squares I saw on this new screen, the green gemstone on my shield started to glow, along with the shield I held in my hands.

Roxanne, Plum, and the magic shop owner watched in awe, as the light got brighter, and after a few seconds, my shield transformed into an exact copy of the shield I pulled out of the treasure chest, save for the ever present green gemstone in the center.

This surprised me yet again, as a gasp escaped my lips, and my eyes widened. I then began to slowly process this, and calm down, as I got yet another surprise when I saw my stats. According to my status screen, the name of this shield was Frozen Pride, and it came with more then a few new skills, as well as some boosts to my stats. My offense was raised slightly, my defense went up by a good amount, and my magic gained a huge overall boost. "Okay, wasn't expecting that, but I am definitely not complaining."

Roxanne got a big smile on her face when she saw this, and began wagging her four tails without realizing it. "Wow! I had no idea your shield could do that lord Damian! So cool!"

"That new shield looks good on you lord Damian! Congratulations!" Plum had the same smile spread across her dragon face, sharing in Roxanne's excitement and happiness for me.

I was also feeling very happy at that moment. Both for receiving such a cool new shield, and for receiving such encouraging words from my companions. "Thanks girls. I'm sure this new shield will come in really handy. And as for the one from the chest, lets take it with us. We might still be able to find a use for it. Besides, the seed is gone. No reason to just leave it here." With my mind made up, I turned my shield back to its original form, and attached the one from the treasure chest to my belt for the time being, planning to add it to our box of rare and valuable items back inside the carriage once our mission into the mine was completed.

None of us were sure how a shield could be used to avert some kind of disaster caused by a seed, but we all got back to focusing on the task at hand for the time being. Roxanne quickly found us another tunnel to take, so we all proceeded down it, following the kitsune's lead.

However, mere seconds after we started down this new tunnel, Plum suddenly heard a voice that sounded just like mine. "Plum's so annoying. Once I'm finally done with her, she's out of here." Naturally, Plum was hurt by those words, looking at me from behind with a saddened look on her face. But before she could speak up, the magic shop owner sudden gave us the word to stop.

"Stop here. Look." The elderly woman pointed down at the ground in front of us, where we all saw a rather large monster footprint in the dirt. "I'm not sure what kind, but there appears to be some sort of large monster prowling around these tunnels. This footprint looks very fresh."

"Doesn't matter. What ever it is, I'm sure we can take it if it shows itself. We're not leaving without-" I was suddenly cut off, as Roxanne's fire went out, making the tunnel go dark. This caught us all by surprise, and made me turn to Roxanne, wondering why she suddenly turned out the light. "Roxanne, what's up? Why'd you put out your flame?"

"I'm so sick and tired of being lord Damian's slave." I suddenly heard Roxanne say to me out of the blue, and her words definitely hurt me, but she wasn't done yet. "I'm just waiting for the perfect moment to kill him with my own hands, and free myself from this accursed life." The more she spoke, the more shocked, hurt, and confused I became.

But then, I heard the voice of the magic shop owner through the darkness. "Don't let the voices mislead you! I've read about these types of monsters! They provoke you by saying the last things you want to hear from the last voices you want saying them!"

I heard her, then started to calm down, realizing that none of what I was hearing from Roxanne was real. Then again, I never really bought it anyway, as I knew there was no way Roxanne or Plum would say anything like what Id been hearing. "Lord Damian is my dinner! Ill pick his bones clean!" Out of seemingly nowhere, I suddenly heard Plum's voice, and got a small, but painful cut across my left arm.

This made me wince, as I held my left arm, knowing that if Plum had really done that, it would've been a lot worse then just a simple cut. "What ever is saying all these things, I think I just felt it! It cut me! I don't suppose you could do anything about this, could ya?!" I asked the magic shop owner, starting to get really sick of what ever was doing all of this.

At my word, the elderly mage grabbed her wand, and began a chant. "As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of creation, and restore out sight! Fast Anti Bind go!" From her wand, a blinding light lit up the entire tunnel, freeing me, Roxanne, and Plum from the spell we were under. It also revealed the monsters responsible for it to be a swarm of bat type monsters, flying all around us. There was also a few rat and lizard type monsters on the ground below them, likely waiting for the bat monsters to finish us off so they could get a piece of the kill themselves.

As soon as I could see them, I started glaring, not at all pleased with their methods. "Sneaky bastards. Plum!"

Plum shook her head a few times, snapping out of the bat monster's trick, then glaring at them as well, hearing my word to attack. "Right away lord Damian! Spike Arrows!" She opened her mouth up wide, aiming it at the cave dwelling monsters, as high levels of earth magic began to build up in her jaws. After that, Plum let loose with a barrage of purple, glowing crystal spikes, firing them at the pack of monsters. Each monster ended up getting pierced by two or three of Plum's Spike Arrows, then died on the spot, falling to the floor of the tunnel.

Once the monsters were dead, the glow coming from the magic shop owner's wand came to an end, and she turned to the three of us. "Well now, is everyone okay?"

Roxanne nodded, reigniting her blue flames in her palm. "I'm fine, but the things those monsters said..." She started looking down slightly, knowing that none of it was real, but it still hurt her emotionally to hear all of the things she heard.

It was the same for Plum, as she started look down and feeling sad too. "Lord Damian...you'd never abandon me or Roxanne, right?"

Hearing that my companions were sad, I quickly turned to them, then without warning, I wrapped one arm around each of them, pulling the two of them into a loving hug. It was a bit difficult to hug Plum with one arm while she was in her dragon form, but I did the best I could for her. "I would never betray either of you like that. I'm not sure what you heard, but I love you both dearly. Ill always stand by you, and I know you'll do the same for me."

The hug, combined with my kind, heartfelt words made both Roxanne and Plum blush slightly, and it also made them smile. Roxanne hugged me back with her free arm, leaning her head against one side of my chest. "Of course I will. Always. Thank you lord Damian. I love you too. So much."

Unable to return my hug with her dragon arms, Plum nuzzled her head into the other side of my chest, her tone showing that she was just as touched as Roxanne was. "I love you too lord Damian. You can always count on me to have your back as well."

The magic shop owner didn't say a word, and smiled at the scene before her. She felt very happy to see that the three of us had such a strong bond between us, but she didn't know just how deep that bond actually was.

After a minute of hugging, me, Roxanne, and Plum all separated from each other, then I walked over to get some materials from the monsters Plum just killed for my shield. I knelt down, grabbed some pieces of their flesh, and fed those fragments to my shield. This unlocked me the Voice Gengar Shield on my upgrade tree, which I was quick to comment on. "Not the best shield I've unlocked, but I'm sure we'll find some kind of use for this shield sooner or later."

With that small crisis averted, the four of us continued onward through the tunnels, still determined to find the gemstone we need to make an outfit for Plum. Eventually, we all came to a cave filled with crystals that glowed in the dark, lighting up the whole cave, but none of us made a move to enter the cave. Laying on the ground at the opposite end of the cavern, we saw the monster that left the footprint we saw earlier.

"That's a Nue. This one is a little on the smaller side, but still very dangerous." The magic shop owner identified the monster for us, her guard already raised, with her wand in her hand.

Some memories surfaced in my mind as I listened to her and stared at the monster. Id read about Nue back in my home world, but of course, in my world their creatures of mythology. Still, most other creatures of mythology Id come across in this world were true to the legends about them in my world, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from this monster. "If its alone, we shouldn't have too much to worry about. Now, lets see what kind of shield Ill get from this guy. Roxanne! Plum! Lets take it out! But be careful! If this Nue is anything like the Nue from my world, it can discharge bursts of electricity!" I raised my shield, getting myself ready for battle.

Roxanne grabbed her sword, as she and Plum prepared themselves for battle too, putting their game faces on. "Ill take the lead. Lets do this Plum!" Roxanne pointed her sword at the Nue, then charged in, with Plum not far behind her.

As soon as she did, the Nue got to its feet, let out a roar, and charged right back at Roxanne. Once it got close enough, the monster jumped at her, baring its fangs and claws.

However, at the very last second, Roxanne ducked, sliding on her knees under the Nue. As she did, she gave the monster several cuts across its chest and stomach.

The monster growled in pain, and as it landed, it gave Roxanne a good kick with its hind legs, knocking her to the ground. Once she was down, the Nue turned to her, preparing itself to lunge at her.

Fortunately for Roxanne, Plum had her back, stomping her foot on the ground as she glared at the monster. "Not on my watch! Wall of Stone!" Plum raised a huge stone wall between Roxanne and the Nue, blocking the beast from getting anywhere near her.

At that moment, the magic shop owner pointed her wand at the monster, firing her most powerful spell directly at it. "Zweit Fire Blast!" The flames of her spell enveloped the Nue, making the creature roar out in pain.

Seeing an opening, I decided that it was my turn to charge in, switching to my Chimera Viper Shield as I ran straight for the Nue. Unfortunately, the beast quickly recovered, growling and swinging its claws at me. We clashed, and I blocked its claws with my shield, giving the monster a grin. "Snake Fang!" Making full use of my shield's skills, the two snakes on my shield came to life, hissed at the Nue, then sank their fangs into the monster's flesh.

The Nue let out another roar of pain, feeling itself being injected with venom, but the monster was far from beaten. Starting to feel cornered, the beast's body began to surge with electricity, making my eyes widen, as I knew what this meant.

"Lord Damian, get back now!" Roxanne got back on her feet, and called out to me, her voice filled with concern.

Then, in the space of five seconds, Plum rushed to my aid, making a stone cylinder shoot up from the ground directly under the Nue as she did. Her stone cylinder slammed into the Nue's chest, forcing the beast to back off from me, as my snakes let it go and it continued to charge up for its electric attack. While her cylinder did its job, Plum grabbed the back of my outfit with her mouth, then quickly jumped back from the Nue with only seconds to spare.

The Nue roared as loud as it could, sending a powerful electric attack out in all directions. However, its attack only lasted about three seconds, and once it stopped, the creature started panting, starting to look tired.

As Plum put me down, I looked straight at the monster, knowing that we definitely cant let ourselves get caught in its lightning attack. While we had time to think, I tried to come up with our next plan of attack. As I did this, I noticed Roxanne sneaking up behind the monster, using her Hide Mirage spell to turn herself invisible. At first, I thought this might work, but then I noticed the Nue's ears twitching, as it glanced behind itself. "Roxanne, it knows your there! Get clear now!"

The Nue growled once more, using its snake tail to attack Roxanne, while the snake hissed the entire time. Hearing my warning, Roxanne was able to dodge the serpent tail's strike, but barely. She then jumped back, getting clear of the range of the Nue's lightning attack and the reach of its snake tail.

This battle was proving to be more difficult then I originally thought it would be, as I started to glare at the Nue in frustration. "Damn. I didn't think it would be this much trouble. It looked like it could hear Roxanne coming. None of the things I've read about Nue mentioned anything about acute hearing."

"I don't know much about Nue myself, but that's definitely what happened. As a type of monster myself, I can sometimes pick up on things like this. This particular monster is really sensitive to sound." Plum explained to me, standing beside me, keeping her glare locked on the Nue just like mine was.

"Sound huh? Looks like this shield is gonna make itself useful sooner then I thought." Getting an idea, I switched over to my newly acquired Voice Gengar Shield, and held it out in front of Plum. "Plum, get ready to roar into my shield as loudly as you can."

Plum looked down at my new shield, and didn't really understand why I wanted her to roar into it, but she gave me an affirming nod none the less. "Okay lord Damian."

I then turned to Roxanne and the magic shop owner, making sure to give them a warning. "Both of you cover your ears now!"

Neither of them was sure what was about to happen, but they both did as I said, covering their ears and bracing themselves for some kind of loud noise.

As for me, I only had one free hand, but I still did my best to cover my ears regardless. "Do it now Plum! Don't hold back!" My directions weren't a moment too soon, as the Nue let out another roar, and started running straight for me and Plum.

It was too late for the monster though, as Plum roared as loud as she could into my Voice Gengar Shield. The shield magnified the sound of her voice ten fold, releasing a powerful blast of soundwaves that shook the entire cavern.

The second these soundwaves reached the Nue, the monster stopped dead in its tracks, roaring out in pure agony, as the sound was loud enough to stun the monster and make its ears literally burst. The Nue's ears started gushing blood, as Plum's roar came to a stop once we all saw this.

Seeing that we had the opening we needed, I gave everyone the order to go all out. "Kill it now!"

Hearing my directions loud and clear, Roxanne aimed her palm directly at the Nue, and powered up her fire magic. "Fox Fire!" Using the most powerful spell in her current arsenal, Roxanne created her large fox made of blue flames from her hand, firing it at the stunned and injured Nue.

"Zweit Fire Blast!" The magic shop owner joined in, adding her fire spell to Roxanne's. The two fire spells combined as they flew towards the Nue, forming an even bigger flaming fox. Once the beast born from magic reached the Nue, it sank its fangs into the flesh of the monster's back, as the white hot flames enveloped the Nue's entire body, causing it a great deal of damage.

While the Nue was struggling in the flames, Plum was building up her earth magic for the finishing blow. While her entire body surged with earth magic, she started running around in a circle, making a huge boulder appear in the middle of her circle. Once it was finally at the point where it was bigger then even her, she stopped running, and slammed the perfectly round boulder with her tail. "Rock Roller!" The boulder rolled right for the Nue, and the beast didn't hear it coming at all.

Once the boulder reached the Nue, it hit the monster hard, shattering almost every bone in its body, as it rolled right over the beast like a steamroller. The boulder ended up killing the monster, then stopped rolling once it hit the wall of the cavern on the other side.

Seconds after the Nue was flattened, we all put away our weapons and lowered our guards, seeing that the monster was stone cold dead. "Yes! We won!" Plum exclaimed with delight, a big smile spread across her face.

I smiled too, then turned my attention to my companions, walking over to them. "Great job you two. Neither of you got hurt, did you?"

Roxanne and Plum both turned to face me, returning my smile, as Roxanne shook her head. "I'm fine, but thank you for worrying about me lord Damian."

"Same here. That monster didn't hurt me even a little. Now where's this crystal we need to make me an outfit?" Plum asked, looking around the cavern, not sure what the crystal we're looking for looks like.

"Oh, their all around us dear. All the crystals you see in this cave are used for making magic thread. Any of them will do." The magic shop owner answered her, once again impressed by the three of us, and our teamwork.

Plum's eyes widen once she heard the elderly woman's words, then she blushed, and let out some nervous laughter. She'd felt embarrassed by the fact that she missed something so obvious, but none of us cared.

In fact, me and Roxanne smiled and laughed at her a bit, finding Plum's embarrassment to be rather cute. Roxanne gave Plum a few reassuring pats on top of her head, while I walked over to the Nue's corpse, collecting a piece of it for my shield.

As soon as I fed the Nue flesh to my shield, my upgrade tree appeared in my vision, informing me that I had unlocked yet another new shield. Naturally, it was the Nue Shield. Like most of the shields Id unlocked before it, it gave me a boost to my defense stat, and came with several new skills as well. Lightning Resistance, Night Terror, and Lightning Shield. All of this was very pleasing to me, as it made me grin with anticipation. "Lightning magic, huh? Sweet! Cant wait to give that a try."

My upgrade tree wasn't done yet though, as it then directed my attention towards the question mark labelled shield that appeared back when I fed my shield the chimera lion head I got from Motoyasu. There was still a question mark over the shield, so I still couldn't use it or tell what it was, but a message appeared over it and informed me that with the inclusion of the Nue flesh, I was closer to completing this mystery shield. Sadly, it also informed me that it still required more materials for it to be completed. This once again peaked my curiosity and made me think, first it was materials from a chimera, and now a Nue. What ever this mystery shield was, I was all the more determined to finish it and see for myself.

I also collected any and all drops from the Nue, as well as several decent sized crystals used for making magic thread. Once we had what we came for, we all left the mine, heading back to our carriage. I placed the shield I got from the treasure chest into a large box containing other rare and valuable items we'd acquired since we became travelling merchants, then we all headed back to Melromarc. With our long quest for an outfit for Plum nearing its conclusion, me, Roxanne, and Plum were all eager to reach the end, collect Plum's new outfit, and finally give her the chance to walk around in her lizardwoman form without worry or concern.

X

Once we entered Melromarc, we parked the carriage, then headed straight for the magic shop. The owner was nice enough to let us use her spinning wheel to make the thread for Plum's outfit, so we had Plum change into her lizardwoman form to begin the process, as I once again gave her my cloak to wear while she did so. We said our thanks to the magic shop owner and left her shop as soon as we had enough thread, then headed straight for the dress shop. Upon arrival, the tailor was thrilled to see us again, as well as all the magic thread we brought with us. She promised us that she would have Plum's outfit ready by tomorrow, so the three of us headed to an inn for the night, planning to return to her shop the following morning.

The moment the sun rose to begin a new day, the three of us were wide awake and eager to see what the tailor came up with for Plum. Plum told her that she wanted something comfortable, but still durable enough to be in combat, knowing that she'd be doing a lot of fighting in the future. Me and Roxanne had some doubts, but more then anything else, Plum needed something to wear. So after breakfast, we all headed back to the dress shop, hoping for the best. When we arrived, we were surprised to see dark circles under the tailor's eyes, as it looked like she didn't sleep at all last night. Never the less, she seemed really excited and proud of herself, informing us that the outfit was complete.

With that, Plum headed into one of the tailor's dressing rooms, with the outfit already waiting there for her. Plum wasn't used to wearing clothes, so she asked for help getting dressed almost right away, prompting Roxanne to walk into the same dressing room to assist her. It took them a good twenty minutes to get Plum dressed, but once they were finally done, Plum opened the curtain, and emerged from the dressing room. "Okay. I'm done. How does it look lord Damian?"

Hearing her voice, I turned to get a look at Plum, and was very pleased with what I saw. "You look amazing Plum. It really suits you."

Plum smiled at me, and blushes slightly at my complement. "You really think so? Thank you lord Damian. I'm really glad you like it." Plum's new outfit consisted of a pure white top with short sleeves, a long sleeved black shirt under it that clung to her body, along with a white skirt that matched her top, and a pair of black shorts that matched the shirt and also clung to waist and thighs, and even had an opening in the back for her tail. The tailor also made Plum a pair of maroon colored footwear, which came up to the middle of her thighs, and left her clawed toes bare, but Plum preferred them that way. And to top it all off, Plum had a stripped yellow scarf wrapped around her neck, hanging off her back.

Roxanne exited the dressing room after Plum did. She was more then happy to help Plum out, but she couldn't help feeling mildly jealous of her scaly teammate, eyeing her figure in her new outfit.

Despite her sleep deprived state, the tailor became even more excited and proud of herself upon seeing her work on Plum's body. "Just like I thought, it suits you perfectly! Ill admit, getting the sizes right was a challenge, but it was well worth the effort if I do say so myself!"

I turned to her, then pulled out a bag containing the 240 silver coins we owed her for her services, handing it to her. "Well, I must admit, all your effort shows. Thanks."

The dress shop owner smiled at me, happily accepting the payment. "Please think nothing of, and feel free to come back anytime. You know, you've got yourself a really beautiful pair of ladies here shield hero. Which one would you say you prefer?"

Her question caught me off guard, making me flinch a bit, as I slowly turned back to Roxanne and Plum.

Both of them heard her question as well, and turned back to me too. They both stayed silent, waiting to see what my answer would be.

_"Oh come on! This trope?! Seriously?!" _I thought to myself, mentally panicking for a moment, trying to think of a way out of this. After a minute of heavy thinking, I gave the best answer I could think of. "I don't play favorites. I love each and every one of my girls very much. Now c'mon girls. Lets go. Our next adventure is out there somewhere, waiting for us." I tried changing the subject after that, turning around, and making my way to the exit.

Feeling disappointed with this outcome, Roxanne let out a sigh, then grumbled to herself a little. "You owe me a donut for that one lord Damian." She then started to follow me out of the dress shop, with Plum not far behind her.

"Now that you mention it Roxanne, that does sound really good. Can I have one too please lord Damian?" Plum asked, not nearly as bothered by my answer as Roxanne was, maintaining her happy smile and tone.

It was my turn to sigh after that, but I was still relieved that neither of them got too upset with me after my question dodging. "As you wish girls. Lets go grab some snacks, then hit the road." We said our goodbyes to the tailor, and walked back out onto the streets of Melromarc, as I thought one more thing to myself. _"I've really gotta get better at talkin to girls, especially ones as cute and gorgeous as mine."_ However, despite my mild distress, I couldn't help smiling, feeling happy that I had girls such as Roxanne and Plum to talk to in the first place.

**I cant really think of a clever way to start the conclusion of this chapter off, so Ill just cut to the chase. Sorry. I've been suffering from some writers block lately. I really hope it passes though. I have absolutely no intention of burning out on this story.**

**So, looks like our heroes long quest for clothing has ended in success. Not only that, but it appears Damian's reputation as a demon lord is spreading all across the land.**

**Just how far will it go? Who will be inspired by it? Who will be horrified by it? What is that mystery shield in Damian's upgrade tree? Will I get over this writers block before it drives me up a wall?**

**The answers to all of these questions and more will come to light soon, and I promise it wont take me another month to get the next chapter out. No spoilers, but I've got big plans for the future of this story, which I hope all of you will enjoy.**

**Also, did anyone recognize the Frozen Pride shield that Damian found in the mine? If not, its the shield Vexen from Kingdom Hearts wields. I've always really liked Vexen and his shield, ever since I played Chain of Memories. **

**I also do not own Kingdom Hearts, or anything to do with it either.**


	9. Ch 8 - Cold Plants, Hot Water

**Roxanne: Hello there readers. Roxanne here. I'm afraid the author is all tied up at the moment, so he asked me to fill in for him. Honestly, I'm really grateful he did, and I hope I do okay as the narrator for this chapter. So, lets see, first of all, the author would like to apologize for the unexpectedly long delay between this chapter and the last one. The holidays can be a crazy time of the year for us all, and he's been especially busy with all kinds of stuff, in addition to everything he normally does too. Plus, he's still trying to get back into the habit of posting one new chapter every week, but it can be hard for someone with his type of autism.**

**Roxanne: He's really trying his best though, and we all really appreciate your continued patience and support. Anyway, I think Ill wrap things up here. I have to leave on a mission with lord Damian and Plum now, and I shouldn't keep them waiting. Be sure to wish us luck on this mission, okay?**

**Roxanne: Oh yes. Just one more thing. The author doesn't own The Rising of the Shield Hero, anything to do with it, or any of the other items or references to other famous works that come up in this story. The only things he owns are his OC's. Like myself.**

Chapter 8 - Cold Plants, Hot Water

Several days had gone by since we acquired an outfit made from magic thread for Plum to wear, and after buying and selling a few goods, me, Roxanne, and Plum left Melromarc once again to continue our adventure. Thanks to Hickwaal, we managed to gain a good reputation in the merchants guild, so we all decided to start accepting job requests from them, provided it wasn't anything shady of course. Now that Plum had some clothes that could change form along with her, she was free and happy to help me and Roxanne out on jobs in her lizardwoman form, while still pulling our carriage in her dragon form when need be. While in her dragon form, her outfit took the form of a yellow ribbon, tied safely around her neck. Merchant work was a good way for us to make money, collect rare items, and continue to spread the word of the demon lord and his companions. So, despite having to constantly be around humans, our party kept at it.

When we weren't doing merchant related work, we did what ever we could to pass the time. Battling monsters, gaining experience, learning new spells, making new accessories to sell, and sometimes just talking, eating together in a peaceful location, and just enjoying each other's company. Plum even started joining me and Roxanne on our daily workout routines, not that she needed to. She was always able to do more of what ever kind of exercise we were doing then me and Roxanne combined, which did well to shock and confuse me and Roxanne the first few times it happened. The two of us just chalked it up to the facts that Plum is a dragon, and she's always the one pulling our carriage with all of our supplies and merchandise in it. Then one day, after paying another visit to the merchants guild, Hickwaal greeted us with a rather interesting and bizarre job request.

Apparently, a village to the south has requested a very large amount of herbicide for some reason, and they've asked for it to be delivered immediately. Given my reputation as the Demon Lord of the Earth Dragon, Hickwaal entrusted this job request to me and my party, and was nice enough to pay for all the herbicide for us. So me, Roxanne, and Plum loaded the crates of herbicide into our carriage, found the location of the village on one of our maps, then headed out right away. We were on the road for several hours, with Plum pulling the carriage, Roxanne holding the reins, and me sitting in the back, wondering why one village would need so much herbicide. However, as time went on, I began to get a few ideas.

"Lord Damian, I think you might want to see this." Plum called to me from the front of the carriage, sounding surprised by what ever she was seeing.

I got up from my seat, walked to the front of the carriage, and found Roxanne looking fairly surprised herself. As soon as I got a look at what my companions saw, I joined them, seeing large plant vines all over the place. "Okay, this was my second idea." I remarked, as all the plant life reminded me of a monster movie I saw once.

The sound of my voice brought Roxanne back to her senses, and even though she wasn't sure what I was talking about, she remained focused on the matter at hand. "Look there lord Damian. That must be the village." She looked and pointed ahead of us, where we all saw huge, manmade, wooden walls.

The first thing I noticed was that it looked like all the plant vines originated from inside those walls, which caused me to let out a small sigh of annoyance. "Looks like the humans of that village screwed themselves good, but since we came all this way we might as well see what exactly is going on. Plum, get us there as fast as you can."

"Right away lord Damian. Hold on tight." Plum nodded at my request, then picked up the pace, while also making sure not to trip on any plant roots as she ran towards the village.

Once we arrived at the giant gates, I showed the villagers my merchant pass, and they opened the gates for us to enter, realizing that we were the ones delivering the herbicide they requested. Once inside, me and Roxanne climbed down from our carriage, and unhooked Plum from it. I then asked to speak with the village's mayor, wanting to know the details of the situation taking place in this village.

Several minutes after that, the mayor approached me and my party with two other men at his sides, while some other villagers started unloading the herbicide from our carriage, with my permission of course. "We really cant thank you enough. As you can see, our village and all the land around it has been completely overrun by these vines."

Suddenly and without warning, Roxanne shoots a single blue fireball at some of the vines, attempting to burn and kill them. Her attack does burn the vines she shot for a moment, but the vines grow back in seconds, growing even bigger then before. "Well, fire attacks are no good."

"Yes, we know. We've already tried burning these vines, as well as everything else we could think of, but as you just saw, the vines always grow back even bigger and stronger then before. The situation just keeps on getting worse and worse for us, even after we started hiring adventurers. Eventually, the plants even turned into monsters and started attacking us." The mayor explained to us, sounding very disheartened by it all.

Before I could respond, a loud, terrified scream was suddenly heard, catching everyone's attention. The scream sounded like it came from somewhere not far outside the village, and it did a pretty good job of scaring some of the villagers.

The mayor turned in the direction the scream came from, and let out a near hopeless sigh before speaking. "As you've just heard, some of the adventurers we hired went out to try and level up by fighting these plant monsters, but it seems this group of adventurers has failed to stop them as well. We did try to warn them, but they insisted that they could handle it."

It was my turn to sigh after that, but mine was one of annoyance. "Plum, go find the stupid humans and bring back any survivors."

"As you wish lord Damian. Ill be back as soon as I can." My purple dragon gave me a nod, then ran out of the village as quickly as she could, following the screams of the adventurers. It really didn't take her very long to find and bring them back, as she returned in just a few minutes with three unconscious, but alive adventurers on her back. She then dropped them all on the ground, not being gentle at all. "These humans call themselves adventurers? Their so weak. Not to mention stupid to walk into an area like the one I found them in. There were plant monsters everywhere. Some of them even spat poison at me, but I was too fast for them to hit me." Despite her insulting words towards the downed adventurers, Plum's tone and facial expression were both fairly normal, not showing much emotion or thought on the matter.

Roxanne walked over to Plum, and knelt down to the three adventurers she saved, going through their pockets and collecting any money or rare items they had on them as payment for our party saving their lives. "All humans are stupid Plum. Some are just a little smarter then others, but at their cores, all humans are the same."

Plum looked down at Roxanne with some confusion, asking what she meant. The kitsune and the dragon then got into a conversation that lasted a good ten minutes, with Roxanne telling Plum all about my and her experiences and views towards humanity.

While a few villagers were hurt by some of the things Roxanne said, most of them just looked at Plum in awe, finally realizing that she wasn't just any dragon. The villagers started muttering among themselves, also realizing that I was the merchant known as the Demon Lord of the Earth Dragon.

The mayor then approached me once again, wishing to confirm this for himself. "Please tell us good sir. Are you really the demon lord that travels around in a carriage drawn by the dragon of the earth?"

Hearing his question, I turned back to him, grinning and doing my demon lord pose for him and the other villagers. "That's not really the title I would've chosen for myself, but yeah. That's me."

Suddenly, the mayor became more frantic, speaking to me in a pleading tone. "Please demon lord, use your powers to heal our sick! We don't have much to offer you in return, but I promise we'll give you what ever we can!"

I kept my grin as he spoke to me, relishing the fact that he called me "demon lord". However, I stopped grinning and posing when he mentioned sick villagers, as I raised one of my eyebrows at him. "Some of your villagers are sick? Show us. I think me and my companions would all like to know exactly what we're dealing with before doing anything else."

The mayor gave me a nod, then turned, showing me where they were keeping the sick villagers. After regaining the attention of Roxanne and Plum, the three of us followed him. The mayor lead us to a large tent, located not far from the main gates, and walked inside ahead of us. Me, Roxanne, and Plum followed him inside the tent, getting our first look at the sickness he'd told us about, and it came as quite a shock to us all.

The sick villagers were laying in beds set up all over the inside of the tent, and each villager had small plants growing out of their bodies, looking very pale and weak. A good number of the sick villagers were children, whose parents stuck by their bedsides, looking very worried about their children.

"As you can see, the plants are devouring their bodies. Its just terrible." The mayor said to us, his tone saddened by the state of his fellow villagers.

"So the plants are also parasitic, huh?" I questioned, having seen this sort of thing in a movie before too, and once in a video game.

"I'm begging you demon lord sir! Please do what ever you can to heal them!" The mayor became frantic once again, going back to begging me for my help.

At first, I wasn't sure if I even could heal them, so I stayed quiet and started to think. After about two minutes of heavy thinking, I got an idea, and glanced at the mayor and his fellow villagers. "Bring me one of the crates of herbicide. I'm gonna need it."

"Of course demon lord sir." The mayor nodded at me, then he and two other men left to go get me one of the crates of herbicide.

While I waited for them, I switched over to my Book Shield, and walked over to the bedside of the one of the sick children.

The mayor and his fellow villagers returned quickly, setting down a full crate of herbicide in the middle of the tent. One of the villagers then brought me a bottle of herbicide, but still wasn't sure what I planned to do with it.

I grabbed the unopened bottle from the villager, then proceeded to open it and turn my attention towards the sick child. Next, I activated my potion enhancement skill, causing the green gemstone in my shield began to glow, and the glow spread to the bottle of herbicide in my hand. I then poured the herbicide over the child's body, and in seconds, before everyone's eyes, the plants growing from the child's body withered away and died.

This result made the villagers get big smiles on their faces, seeing that the child was healed and slowly started regaining his strength. Their smiles remained, as I went around and performed the same treatment on all of the other sick villagers.

After healing every sick villager, I changed my shield back to its normal form, then me, Roxanne, and Plum exited the tent. We were followed by the mayor and his two aids, who almost immediately got down on their knees before us, and began to plead with us for our help yet again. "Please demon lord sir, we beg you from the very bottom of our hearts. Please save our village."

Me and my two companions turned to the mayor and his aids, listening to their plea, as me and Roxanne exchanged a few glances while doing so. Without even having to speak to each other, we decided to at least hear them out, giving each other a nod. "Before anything else, tell me exactly what's happened to your village, and don't leave anything out." I told the three men, as me and Roxanne found ourselves some crates to sit on, while Plum stood behind us, still in her dragon form.

"Of course demon lord sir. Please allow me." The mayor and the other two men got back on their feet, walked over, and stood across from us, as the mayor began to explain their situation to us. "Our troubles began not too long ago, almost one month ago. Our village was ravaged by famine, and many of us went to bed hungry every night, until one day the spear hero came to our village."

Upon hearing the words "spear hero" both me and Roxanne let out irritated huffs, as we both looked very displeased. We knew from personal experience that if he was involved, the mayor's story would only get worse. However, we both kept quiet, waiting to hear what exactly Motoyasu did to make things end up the way they were.

The mayor didn't seem to notice our displeasure, as he continued his tale. "When he heard of our plight, he visited some nearby ruins, and brought back a seed that had been sealed there many years ago. The spear hero and his party called it the Miracle Seed."

My and Roxanne's displeasure changed into shock for a moment, as we both recalled the opened treasure chest and warning sign that we came across in the mine tunnels just a few days ago. As the shock slowly wore off, we realized that it seemed our suspicions about Motoyasu being dumb enough to take the item inside the treasure chest, despite the warning were correct. But still, neither of us spoke up, and waited for the mayor and his fellow villagers to finish their story.

One of the two men took over for the mayor after that, picking up the story where the mayor left it off. "At first, we didn't think much of it at all. We were just overjoyed when we saw how fast the plants were growing and baring fruit. However, they quickly grew too much and overwhelmed our village."

"While searching for a solution, we came upon an old legend, passed down for generations among our people. A long time ago, an alchemist who'd set up shop here created a seed, but for some reason he sealed it away. The legend also stated that eventually the plants grown from that seed will outgrow everything in the nation." The mayor added, rejoining the explanation.

At that point, me and Roxanne decided to stop listening and speak up. "Wait a minute, you seem to have quite a few old legends about this seed. Weren't you suspicious of it at all?" Roxanne asked the three villagers, narrowing her eyes at them, already developing some suspicions of her own regarding the answer.

Roxanne questions made the mayor and his two aids flinch and let out some gasps, before they all looked down, looking very ashamed of themselves. Far too ashamed to even answer her, but their combined reaction told us all that we needed to know.

"Let me guess. You all thought because a hero brought it to you, it was perfectly safe and nothing could possibly go wrong. Is that about right?" I asked, sharing Roxanne's disapproving tone and facial expression.

My question made the three men feel even worse, as they all fell to the knees again, and the mayor looked up at me and offered me a bag of coins. "Demon lord of the earth dragon, we'll pay you what ever you want for the medical treatments and the monster exterminations! Anything you want! Just please save our village! We beg you!"

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all looked down at the villagers for a few seconds, then me and Roxanne turned to each other once again. Our unspoken communication was holding strong, as we gave each another set of nods, then both of us stood back up. Then, without any kind of warning, I swiped the bag of coins out of the mayor's hand, and shot him and his aids a very disapproving and intimidating glare, with a tone to match. "Ya know, this whole situation doesn't surprise me. I mean, the spear hero, Motoyasu, is an idiot! One of the biggest morons I've ever had the misfortune to know! However, I don't blame him so much for doing this, as I blame all of you stupid humans for not anticipating it!"

The mayor and the other two men were caught off guard by my sudden change in tone and volume, and quickly looked back up at me and Roxanne, only to flinch even harder then a moment ago when they saw the angered look in my and Roxanne's eyes.

It was Roxanne's turn to yell after that, taking a step towards the villagers before doing so, which made them all flinch again when her foot stomped on the ground. "The spear hero and his intensely irritating right hand bitch have given us nothing but grief since we met them! They call themselves heroes and leaders, but their not even fit to lead a fly to dog crap! I'm not even sure which is worse! The fact that they literally planted a seed of destruction! Or the fact that you idiotic villagers knew about the legends surrounding that seed, but let them plant it anyway! Seriously?! What the hell is wrong with you dumbasses?!"

My and Roxanne's words made the villagers feel far worse then they already did, as they all looked down once more, unable to give us an answer.

All the while, Plum just watched this whole scene unfold, not really understanding what was going on. She knew very well why me and Roxanne hated humans, and she had met Motoyasu once before, but given that she hadn't had any particularly negative encounters with him herself, she was unable to fully grasp the words spoken by me and Roxanne. However, she was able to understand one thing for sure. My and Roxanne's feelings went far deeper then simply hating humans. Although she wasn't sure how, Plum could just pick up on stuff like this. It was almost like she could somehow sense the emotions of those she was close to. Of course, it helped that she'd been with me and Roxanne since birth, and we've never once yelled at her about anything at all. At least, not anything like how we were yelling at the human villagers now.

After a few minutes of silence, and considering our options, as well as the pros and cons to saving this village, I eventually reached a decision. So I calmed down, let out a sigh, and scratched the back of my head a few times. "Well, at the end of the day, this whole mess is yet another perfect example of just how smart humans aren't. The idiocy of you villagers and Motoyasu caused all of this, and while I really don't feel like its our job to help you stupid humans out of your seemingly unending predicaments, me and my companions will help ya out this time. But only because we can hold this over Motoyasu's head forever, this'll be a great way to boost everyone's faith in the demon lord known as Damian Abyss, and the thought of adding a plant monster shield to my arsenal has got me kind of excited."

Hearing that I was on board, Roxanne calmed down too, but the villagers weren't out of the woods just yet. "If lord Damian says we'll help you, then we'll help you, but always remember this humans. If the spear hero, that bitchy princess, the sword hero, the bow hero, or anyone from the city of Melromarc for that matter comes knocking on your gate, don't let them in. Their presence only invites disaster, as you can plainly see." The kitsune gestured all around her, referring to the outbreak of plant life caused by Motoyasu. In addition to using this opportunity to build up my reputation, Roxanne was also using this opportunity to reduce the people's faith in the other three cardinal heroes, as well as the kingdom of Melromarc itself.

While they weren't the nicest words in the world, the words spoken by me and Roxanne slowly but surely filled the villagers with hope, as all three of them looked up at us with grateful smiles on their faces. They may not have understood everything we were talking about, but that made no different to the three of them. The only thing that mattered to them was that we had agreed to help them out. "Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" The mayor said to us, unable to contain his gratitude.

I then turned back to him, and gave him a cold look, with a tone to match. "Don't thank us just yet. This little bag of coins isn't nearly enough of a payment for a job like this. We'll discuss the rest of your payment when we get back, so don't even think about going anywhere. As if you could." I said to the mayor, knowing that the fields outside this village were filled with plant monsters, which made running away a real challenge to most people. Once that was done, I turned, started walking in the direction the vines seemed to originate from, and switched to my new Frozen Pride shield. I recalled the message that came with this shield, and knew that it was literally made for this exact situation. I just hoped that the alchemist who made it knew what he was doing, since he likely didn't get a chance to test it. "C'mon girls. We're heading out. Be sure not to get too far away from me."

"As you wish lord Damian." Plum said to me in an affirmative tone, as she and Roxanne started to follow me into the jungle that was one a village without question.

As we walked off, the mayor gasped once more when he saw my new shield. It took him a moment to put it together, but he'd recognized my new shield from the legends. "That shield...Could it be?...But where did he find it?..." The elderly man asked himself, almost unable to believe his eyes, as he kept them locked on my shield until lost sight of me and my party among the plants.

X

Working together as a team, me, Roxanne, and Plum fought plant monster after plant monster, slowly but surely making our way to the source of them all. The vines kept getting thicker and thicker as we went, and the monsters continued to get stronger too, but all of it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. Roxanne and Plum fought off every monster that came our way, while I blocked every single attack the monster's fired at us, putting my high level of poison resistance to good use. Still, after each victory, I felt a bit on the anxious side. Since my companions were doing so well, I hadn't bothered to try any of Frozen Pride's skills out yet, despite the fact that it was made for this exact situation. Never the less, I wasn't complaining, and mentally planned to try utilizing Frozen Pride's true power once we reached the source of all the trouble, as me and my party continued to push on.

It didn't end up taking us very long to reach the core, as we all come to a stop as soon as we laid eyes on it. The core took the form of a fairly large tree, with tons of fruit growing from its branches. "So that's it, huh? Okay, now this really reminds me of a monster movie I saw once." I commented on the overall appearance of the core, as a large eyeball opened up in the middle of a large flower on the front of it, and it stared straight back at us.

As she looked straight into that eyeball, Roxanne felt her skin start to crawl, as her whole body shivered with great discomfort. "Well its giving me the creeps. Lets try to finish it off quickly and be done with all of this lord Damian." She said to me, gripping the handle of her sword and awaiting my directions.

"I'm with you lord Damian. You too Roxanne. How are we playing this?" Plum asked me, taking a cautious, battle ready stance herself.

I kept my eyes locked on the plant monster as I listened to them, knowing that it must be planning an attack of its own. So I thought as fast as I could, and came up with a strategy just in time, as the plant monster was already sending its vines to attack us. "Lets see how good this thing's regeneration rate is! Stick to long range attacks for now, and stay clear of those vines! Don't get too far away from each other either!" I yelled out my battle plan as quickly as I could, using my shield to deflect some of the vines that were sent at me.

Roxanne and Plum nodded as soon as they heard my directions, doing their best to dodge every vine that came their way too. Using her sword, Roxanne cut down a good number of vines, giving herself the chance to attack while they were regenerating. "Burn to death you monster! Fox Fire!" Aiming her free hand at the monster's eyeball, Roxanne unleashed her best spell upon it. Her fox made of flame growled and flew through the air, sinking its fangs into the plant's one and only eyeball the second it made contact, causing its flames to spread to almost the whole tree that it was attached to.

Roxanne's attack caused the plant monster to stop attacking me and Plum, which gave Plum the opening she needed to fire her own attack. "Thanks Roxanne! Spike Arrows!" The dragon opened her jaws up as wide as she could, then shot a barrage of crystal spikes towards the eyeball.

At least ten of Plum's spike pierced the eyeball, and the rest struck either the branches or the trunk of the tree, all while Roxanne's blue flames continued to burn it all. However, after a full minute, the plant monster was able to put the flames out, and use its vines to pull every last crystal spike from its body. Once that was done, it only took the monster seconds to fully regenerate, making itself look like neither of the attacks ever happened.

I narrowed my eyes at the monster when I saw this, gaining a better understanding of its limits and capabilities. "Yeah, I figured that wouldn't work. Guess that's why this shield was created." I said to myself, then glanced at the copy of Frozen Pride on my arm.

At that moment, the plant monster's eye widened, as it resumed its attacks. It sent another wave of vines at me and my party, as the ones Roxanne cut down a few minutes ago had already grown back.

Seeing this, I put my game face on, held my new shield out in front of me, and focused my magic power. "Frozen Pride, show me your power! Deep Freeze!" I called out the name of one of the shield's skills, causing the green gemstone in it to glow. Seconds later, a strong, super cold wind blew out of my shield and towards the vines. Right after that wind made contact with the vines, they all stopped cold. Literally. Me and my companions watched in awe, as the vines froze solid, then immediately shattered to pieces.

Seeing this, the plant monster withdrew its remaining vines for a moment, looking more then a little frightened by the result of my attack. Its eyeball looked at me, then at my shield, almost like it recognized Frozen Pride and its power.

Once the shock finally wore off, Roxanne was the first one of us to comment on the recent events that had taken place. "I don't believe it. Ice magic! To think a human could create such a shield, and you seem to be a natural with it lord Damian." She gave me a big smile, clearly very happy and excited by everything she'd seen, starting to wag her four tails without realizing it. Roxanne had never seen ice magic before, and watching me of all people utilize it right before her eyes was a real treat to her.

And she was right, at least that's how it felt to me. Frozen Pride did indeed feel right to me, and not just because it was a shield. My affinity was healing and support magic, but when I cast that Deep Freeze spell, it felt like my and Frozen Pride's power was one in the same. I wasn't sure if it was a side effect of the weapon copy system, one of Frozen Pride's skills, or if it was just the heat of the moment, but regardless of what it was, I still found myself grinning at the results. "Gotta admit, that was pretty cool. No pun intended. Now I see what that message was talking about. The best way to kill a plant is with ice, and from the way that eyeball is looking at me, it knows that too." I turned to face the eyeball of the plant monster, seeing that it was frightened, as I aimed Frozen Pride directly at it.

As it looked back at me, the plant monster suddenly let out a loud roar, making all of the vines that I froze and reduced to dust grow back in seconds. The plant monster roared once again, sending all of its vines at me and my companions once again.

"Get behind me girls! I'm gonna kill this son of a bitch!" Still grinning, I was starting to get really excited myself. Normally its Roxanne and Plum that do the bulk of the actual fighting, so getting to strike the finishing blow myself was a very welcome change of pace for me. Not that I didn't appreciate all of their help of course.

While the monster was focused on me, Roxanne and Plum made some quick turns, and ran straight back over to me. The two of them then stood behind me, eager to see more of my new power.

As the vines continued to close in on us, I acted quickly, and cast another of my new icy spells. "Snow Crystals!" Numerous large snowflakes appeared all around me, then bent themselves into arrowhead shapes, before flying at high speed towards the vines and the monster they were attached to.

The crystals pierced the vines on contact, then frozen each one solid from the point of contact, making them shatter to pieces just like before. A few crystals even made it through the vines, and struck the tree itself, causing the plant monster to roar out in pain and stop its attacks, while it struggled desperately to recover.

"It looks like its working! Lets finish it off lord Damian!" Plum said to me, raising her voice so Id hear it over the monster's roars, then lowered her body down for me to get on her back.

Glancing at her, I jumped onto her back without question, and pointed Frozen Pride's blades towards the plant monster. "Head straight for the core Plum! Roxanne, cover us!"

Roxanne gave me a nod, then Plum started running as fast as she could, heading straight for the plant monster. As she did, the monster sent some of its remaining vines to attack us from the sides, but before they even got close to us, Roxanne rushed in, and cut them all down with her blue flames coating her sword. "Stay away from my lord Damian!"

Meanwhile, me and Plum raced towards the plant monster's main body, and once we were just a few yards away from it, I unleashed what I hoped would be the final blow. "See you in Cocytus monster! Blizzard Smash!" A massive icy blast burst from my shield, striking the plant monster with tons of force, causing the monster's eyeball to convulse wildly. The monster once again let out a roar of pure agony, but that came to an end after about twenty seconds, as the monster was frozen solid by that point, tree trunk, branches, leaves, and all.

My attack must've frozen it right down to the root, because immediately after the monster was encased in ice, every single one of its vines stopped moving and fell to the ground. With that, Roxanne stopped fighting them off, and turned to me and Plum just in time to catch the finale.

I stood tall on Plum's back, as she ran right up to the base of the plant monster's tree trunk, then I jumped up towards the monster's eyeball. Shouting out a battle cry, I struck the eyeball as hard as I could with Frozen Pride's center blade. The blade smashed right through the ice, then the monster's entire body began to crack up. Literally. Just like its vines before it, the plant monster started to shatter and fall to pieces. While this was happening, I landed safely on Plum's back, and raised my voice once more. "Now would be a pretty good time to back off Plum! You too Roxanne!"

Hearing my voice, and seeing that the tree was coming down in all directions, both Roxanne and Plum turned around and moved as fast as they could to put enough distance between us and the defeated monster. Not long after the now dead monster fell to pieces, all of its vines and fellow plant monsters began to shrivel up and die, which the villagers were very quick to take note of back at the edge of the village. However, before we could celebrate, me, Roxanne, and Plum all noticed that something managed to survive my attack. A lot of somethings actually. When the core fell, some of the fruits that were growing from its branches cracked open, revealing that the ripe seeds inside were still alive and well.

Calling to mind all the trouble that was caused by only a single seed, the three of us all reached the same conclusion at the exact same time. "Lets gather up all these seeds." The three of us all said to each other at the same time, then gave each other some affirming nods, and proceeded to start collecting every last seed from the fallen monster's branches.

Thankfully, we found some large baskets outside someone's abandoned house, and decided to use them to aid in our seed collecting. Before we got started, Plum transformed into her lizardwoman form, which was now clad in her new outfit. Each of us then grabbed a basket, and started harvesting plant monster seeds. And with the fall of the plant monster colony, my and my party's levels had increased once again. I was now at level 37, Roxanne made it to level 39, and Plum reached level 38.

A few minutes after we began, a thought suddenly crossed Roxanne's mind, as she turned to face Plum and raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey Plum, isn't any of this cold or ice bothering you at all?" Plum seemed fine to Roxanne, and that's exactly what had her so confused. As a dragon, Plum was technically a cold blooded reptile.

Plum turned to face the kitsune as soon as she heard her question, then gave her a friendly smile, not looking or sounding bothered at all. "No. Not really. I feel just fine Roxanne. Why do you ask?"

Plum's answer only made Roxanne even more confused, but rather then waste her time pondering it further, she decided to simply settle on the conclusion that it must be another dragon thing. "...Its nothing. Forget I said anything Plum." Roxanne sighed, once again feeling envious of Plum, and tried to take her mind off of it with more seed gathering.

Roxanne's response made Plum lose her smile and tilt her head towards her friend, growing confused herself. But, never one to pry, Plum just shrugged, and turned her attention back to her own seed collecting.

As for me, I dropped one of the seeds I picked up into my shield's green gemstone, making my upgrade tree appear in my field of vision once again. Id unlocked the Bio Plant Shield, then a notice informed me that I also gained a new skill. Plant modification. This definitely had my attention, as I quickly switched over to my new shield. "Alright, lets see what you can do." I grabbed three seeds from my basket, then used my new skill on them, as my new shield gave off a green glow. Once that was done, I tossed the seeds onto the ground, and watched them take root in mere seconds.

This new skill sure worked fast, as it only took about ten seconds for the three seeds to grow into a replica of the plant monster me and my party just defeated. It wasn't as big or high leveled as the original, but it was still pretty impressive for a first attempt. That was what I was going for when I modified the seeds though. I was trying to create a loyal plant monster of my own, but sadly, I must've done something wrong. After only being alive for ten seconds, the monster started to wither away and die.

This outcome got me thinking, as I placed a hand under my chin. "Hmmm...Somethin tells me those were the wrong modifications, but I wonder if I could make these seeds work the way their creator intended." I thought out loud, looking down at the remaining seeds in my basket, starting to wonder if maybe I could use my new skill to make them bare fruit and end this village's famine.

At that moment, Roxanne walked over to me, carrying her own basket full of seeds. "Lord Damian, what was that?" She asked me, having witnessed my little experiment.

I turned to her, showed her my new shield, and explained myself. "One of the seeds got me this new shield, it has a skill called Plant Modification, and I think I can use it to make a never ending supply of fruit. As well as some plant monsters of our very own." I smiled at her as I spoke, but was surprised when she didn't smile too.

Rather, Roxanne looked mildly concerned for some reason, looking at me and my new shield like some bad memories were playing on repeat in her head. "Listen lord Damian, you know I'm always on board when it comes to making us richer and stronger, but please promise me that you wont go too far."

As I listened to her, I felt my confusion and concern growing as well. It was clear as spring water that something was bothering her. She must've known that if I lost control of my plant monsters, I could easily kill them with my Frozen Pride shield, so this must've been something else. "Roxanne, where is this coming from? What's wrong?"

Roxanne turned away from me slightly, her ears going down in sadness, as she remained silent for a full minute before responding to my questions. "...We still have a lot of seeds to pick up, and we have to collect our reward from the villagers. Do you mind if we talk about this later lord Damian?"

The more I looked at her and listened to her, the more confused and concerned I grew, until it was finally too much for me to handle. Once she'd finished speaking, I walked over to her, and pulled her into a hug, catching her off guard. "Anything you want Roxanne. I didn't expect things to turn out like this so suddenly, and I'm still not sure what's got you so down, but when one of my girls is upset, Ill do what ever it takes to make them smile again."

Getting a small blush on her face as she listened to me, a smile slowly formed on Roxanne's face, as she hugged me back, and rested her head against me. "Your already doing it. Thank you lord Damian."

I smiled too, happy to see her smiling again. "Anytime Roxanne, my dear kitsune." I gave her a few good pets down the back of her head and her back, making her tails sway from side to side behind her. We stayed like that for a few more minutes, just enjoying each other's embrace, then we separated, and got back to work collecting seeds.

All the while, Plum was watching us, listening in on our conversation. Just like earlier, she was able to sense some very deep and complex emotions coming from us, and it wasn't our obvious affection for one another. Plum might not have been an expert when it came to this sort of stuff, but she still wanted to do her very best to help those she cared for when they needed it. And so, as the lizardwoman collected her share of the seeds, she began to call to mind every lesson me and Roxanne taught her since her birth, already trying her best to form some kind of plan in her head. Once that was done, all she would need is an opportunity.

X

By the time we finally finished collecting every last seed, the sun had already started setting, but rather then set up camp in the middle of an abandoned village, we decided to head back to the edge of the village and give the villagers the good news. The three of us carried back three large, full baskets of seeds back to the edge of the village with us, and were greeted with some very grateful and happy reactions upon our return to the villager's base camp. Plum transformed back into her dragon form before we made the trip back, mostly because neither me nor Roxanne felt like answering any questions the villagers might have on the subject. Upon our arrival, the villagers gathered around as soon as they saw us, with the mayor at the front of the group, speaking for all of them with his next statement. "Thank you so much demon lord of the earth dragon! Or I suppose I should say shield hero!"

A good number of villagers began to mutter among themselves, but I didn't care. Me and my companions loaded the baskets of seeds into our carriage, then turned to face the mayor and his villagers. "We took care of all the monsters and collected every single seed, but cleaning up all these dead vines is your job. And Id prefer it if ya just kept calling me demon lord."

The mayor and his fellow villagers calmed themselves down after hearing my words, and the mayor gave me a nod before responding to them. "Yes, of course. We couldn't possibly ask anything more of you demon lord sir."

I returned the mayor's nod, then let out a yawn. Id used a great deal of magic power during our fight against the plant monster, way more then usual, and I was feeling rather drained. "We'll stay here for the night, then head out first thing tomorrow morning. Lets have dinner now, then turn in after that. Sound good?" I asked my girls, wanting to at least eat something with them before nodding off.

That thought made both Roxanne and Plum smile and nod at me, as they were both feeling fairly drained themselves after everything we'd done in just one day. "Sounds perfect to me. Ill go get some ingredients from the carriage." Roxanne told me, then headed back to the carriage to procure the ingredients for our dinner. I didn't find out until just recently, but Roxanne was actually a good cook. Apparently, she learned how to cook from her father before the first wave of catastrophe hit.

The thought of Roxanne's cooking made Plum lick her lips in anticipation, and made her smile in a way that showed off her fangs. "Mmmm...Roxanne's cooking is way better then the food humans serve. I wish she'd told us she could cook sooner."

I agreed with Plum completely. I never got to meet Roxanne's parents, but one thing was certain. Her father was a hell of a chef, even if he didn't do it for a living.

Roxanne returned with the ingredients a few seconds later, used her magic to get a fire going, then got started on our dinner. Like every other time she's cooked, it was delicious, leaving all three of us full and satisfied by the time we finished eating.

With dinner over and done with, I gave each of my girls a kiss on the cheek, and each of them happily gave me one right back, which I enjoyed very much, despite Plum still being in her dragon form during it all. All of us then headed back to the carriage, Plum transformed back into her lizardwoman form, and we all made ourselves comfortable for the night. Oddly enough, Id gotten used to sleeping inside a carriage. It was a lot more comfortable then people might think, but that might've been because Roxanne's tails were really warm, soft, and made great pillows. The three of us drifted off to sleep around the time the sun vanished from the sky, and all the villagers did the same.

I was the first one to awaken the following morning, and I did so at the very first light of dawn, with a very welcome surprise waiting for me as I opened my eyes. Roxanne was clinging to my left arm, snuggled up against me, with two of her tails wrapped around my left leg. At the same time, Plum had a hold of my right arm, with most of it currently buried in her cleavage. I was definitely awake after that, with my face turning red, and my eyes widening from a combination of shock and excitement. _"Usually this only happens in my dreams, but I know its real this time! Thank you Lucifer! I love this world!" _I thought to myself with a big smile spread across my face, and as much as I wanted this to continue, I knew that I had some work to do while I had the time.

So, without waking either of them up, I managed to carefully work my way out of Roxanne and Plum's holds, then exited the carriage. The first thing I noticed when I walked outside was that I was the only one awake, so I decided to conduct my research as quietly as possible, starting with some leftover materials from the vines and plant monsters. Most of it was dead, but I managed to find some good pieces, and fed them to my shield. I was rewarded with two more new shields. The Plantriwe Shield and the Mandoragora Shield.

The Mandoragora Shield came with a new skill that caught my eye. Plant Analysis. Getting a few more ideas in my head, I equipped my new shield, and grabbed a few seeds from the carriage, while still being quiet and careful enough to avoid disturbing my sleeping beauties. Once I had the seeds, I held one of them under my new shield, and a whole wealth of information appeared before me on my status screen. After reading it over, I gained a better understanding of how the seeds worked, and started to think that with the aid of my Bio Plant Shield, I could indeed use the seeds to make a vast, unending amount of food for me, my party, and the people of this village.

Of course, I know getting the modifications just right will take quite a bit of trial and error, even with this new skill. Thankfully, I've got more then enough seeds to try as many times as it takes to get it right. Once I felt like I had a good enough grasp of the seed's stats, I switched over to my Bio Plant Shield, and began the experiments. I still had my heart set on creating some plant monsters of my very own, but after thinking back to the way Roxanne reacted to that idea yesterday, I decided to save that experiment for another day, not wanting to upset her again. It ended up costing me more then a few seeds, but after a while, I think I finally achieved the desired result.

And not a moment too soon. Right as I knelt down to plant what I hoped would be the final seed in the ground, a very friendly and familiar voice spoke to me just as the sun started to rise over the horizon. "Good morning lord Damian. Your up early. Did you get enough sleep?" Roxanne awoke from her slumber, climbed out of the carriage, and started to walk over to me.

I glanced at her as soon as I heard the sound of her voice, then smiled, but kept most of my focus on getting the seed in the ground. "Morning Roxanne. Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

Roxanne stopped as soon as she reached me, then looked down to get a look at what I was working on. Seeing that part of the ground was dug up, and that I had my Bio Plant Shield equipped, she quickly put two and two together. "Lord Damian, you know that I trust you completely, but are you sure you know what your doing there?" She questioned me in a tone filled with concern, losing her smile for the moment.

I, on the other hand, kept my smile, feeling confident with the results this time around. "Just watch. Its gonna work this time Roxanne." There wasn't even a single hint of doubt in my voice, as I stood back up, then took a few steps back, keeping my eyes locked on the spot where I buried my most recent seed.

The sun continued to rise in the sky above, bringing light back to the village once again. This light caused Plum to awaken from her slumber, just in time to witness the spectacle.

Roxanne watched in awe, as the seed quickly took root, and started to grow into a decent sized plant in just under three minutes. Not only that, but the plant started baring fruit not long after that.

Roxanne and Plum could hardly believe their eyes, while I wiped some sweat from my forehead and smiled at the fruits of my labor. Literally. "Yup. Looks good. Took a little longer then Id prefer to admit, but it looks like I finally got it right this time."

Plum was the first to give the fruit a taste test, picking one off of the plant, then sinking her fangs into it. Seconds after she did, she chewed and swallowed her food, then smiled, and let out a satisfied sigh. "Mmmm...Its so sweet and juicy." She finished off her piece of fruit in seconds, then went right back to the plant for more.

Several minutes later, the villagers began to wake up and emerge from their tents. It only took them about twenty seconds to notice my successful experiment, gather around it, then look at it with awe all over their faces.

Since everyone had gathered around, I explained to everyone in great detail how I was able to pull this off. I found it pointless to go too in depth with my explanation, since all the hard work was already done, and there was no way the villagers would be able to imitate my work without my shields. So I just told them the bare minimum and kept my explanation brief and simple. Plus, I knew there was only one thing that they really cared about. "Long story short, these seeds will now do what they were originally made to do. Just plant them, and they'll grow more then enough fruit for all of you. Your village will never go hungry again."

As expected, the mayor turned to me, smiled, and sounded very grateful and happy yet again. "Thank you so much demon lord sir! Even after going out of your way to save us from danger, you've solved yet another crisis facing our village! I'm not sure we'll ever be able to thank you enough for everything you and your companions have done for us!"

I turned to face him, and gave him a grin. "Tell ya what, you give us all the money you can spare, half the seeds, a good portion of fruit, and agree to follow, serve, and spread the word of the demon lord, Damian Abyss. Oh, and also be sure to mention that it was the spear hero that caused all your grief and suffering in the first place. Do all of that, and we'll call it square. Do we have a deal?"

After listening to my terms, the mayor talked it over with some of his fellow villagers. Then, after a brief deliberation, they all agreed, and accepted my offer.

With that, me, Roxanne, and Plum collected our reward from the mayor, as well as several baskets full of fruit. We loaded it all onto our carriage, and gave the villagers half of the seeds we collected from the plant monster, after I took the time to modify all of them of course. It was tedious and rather annoying, but I didn't want more bad rumors about me and my party floating around, so I sucked it up and kept at it. Once my work was finally completed, Plum changed back into her dragon form, me and Roxanne hooked her back up to the front of the carriage, then the two of us boarded said carriage, and off we went. Behind us, the villagers watched us go, waving to us and thanking us once more for everything we'd done for them.

X

Our next several hours were spent on the road, as we made our way back to the merchants guild to inform Hickwaal that our job was completed. Upon arrival, we gave him the good news, and even showed him the seeds and fruit we brought back with us. "I must say, sir demon lord, this is certainly an impressive seed. Of course Ill be happy to take as many as your willing to sell, as well as the produce." Hickwaal told me after taking a very close look at one of the seeds, his tone and facial expression full of amusement and intrigue.

"I do plan on keeping some seeds and fruit for myself and my girls, but otherwise, you've got yourself a deal." My tone and expression were the exact opposite, as I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in, with Roxanne and Plum sitting in the chairs on either side of me.

Despite my obvious lack of interest or enthusiasm, Hickwaal's mood didn't change one bit, as he continued to offer me praise. "My complements to you for all the fine products you've made to created advantages. You are a shining example of the trader's spirit sir demon lord."

"Flattery will get ya nowhere." I said to him in response, then stood up from my chair. "Are we done here? If so, we'll take the money for the seeds and fruit, and be on our way."

"Oh, before you leave, would you mind helping me out with one more little job I have?" The merchant asked me, standing up from his chair as well, then he turned and walked over to his desk to get the money he owed us for the seeds and fruit.

I sighed before responding, mentally deciding to at least hear what this new job was before making a verdict. "Alright, what do ya got for us?"

Hickwaal returned with a bag filled the amount of cash we agreed upon, and handed it to me as he began his explanation of this new job. "Its very simple, I assure you. I need you to deliver some goods to an inn located in a hot springs town not far from here."

I grabbed the bag of money from him and listened, but then my eyes widened as soon as I heard two words in particular. "...Did you say hot springs?" I slowly looked at him again, wanting to make sure that I heard him correctly.

Hickwaal nodded at me, confirming what I heard to be true. "Yes, indeed. Its very relaxing. Many adventurers go there to wash away their fatigue."

In a flash, my annoyance and lack of interest were replaced with excitement, as I looked like someone just gave me a big shot of adrenaline. "We're in!" I said not even two seconds after Hickwaal finished speaking, looking him straight in the eye, and startling him a bit.

While this went on, Plum tilted her head in her usual confused fashion. "What's a hot spring? It must be something good if its got lord Damian so excited."

"A hot spring is a pool filled with hot water. People like to sit in them, relax, and it feels really nice. I've never been to one myself, but I've heard plenty of good things about them. I'm getting pretty excited now myself." Roxanne gave Plum the best explanation she could, smiling at the thought of getting to soak in a real hot spring, and those thoughts got her four tails swaying back and forth immediately.

I found myself smiling too, but my reasons for doing so were a bit different from Roxanne's. _"This world has hot springs too?! HELL YEAH!" _My face started turning red, but I also gained a big smirk on my face, as images of Roxanne and Plum bathing in a hot spring raced through my head. I managed to get my perversion under control quickly enough, and turned to my girls, giving them a big smile. "Roxanne, Plum, we're heading out right away!"

Roxanne and Plum both nodded at me, smiling right back. They were both happy to see me in such a good mood, and after Roxanne's explanation, both she and Plum were excited to embark on this job too.

The three of us quickly loaded all the goods that Hickwaal needed delivered onto our carriage, then it was right back out onto the road for us.

X

Thanks to Plum's incredible speed and stamina, we were able to arrive at the hot spring town right as the sun started to set. After entering the town, we located the inn, and parked our carriage outside it. We all disembarked after that, as Plum changed back into her lizardwoman form, and helped me and Roxanne carry the goods into the inn. The inn keeper was very grateful to us, and once the job was done, she gave us our payment and agreed to let us stay at her inn for the night, free of charge. The three of us exited the inn after that, already planning on staying the night, and enjoying the hot springs before nightfall.

I put our payment on our carriage, then exited the carriage to find that my companions had already gotten a head start.

In town square, there was a large, public fountain, which also contained hot spring water. My two companions were already sitting at the water's edge, letting their feet soak in the hot water, with their respective footwear on the ground next to them. "Ahhhhh...Its so warm. You were right Roxanne. This does feel really nice." Plum said to Roxanne in a relaxed tone, with a content smile present on her face.

"I told you Plum, but honestly, now that I can actually feel it, its even better then I imagined it would be." Roxanne replied to Plum's comment, letting out a content sigh.

I walked over to the water's edge, and smiled down at the two of them. "I'm glad you two are enjoying yourselves, but save some of that for the actual hot spring. We've got just about enough time for a dip before nightfall. What's say we have at it? I haven't been in a real hot spring in years."

Before answering my question, both girls withdrew their feet from the water, and proceeded to put their respective footwear back on. "Thank you so much lord Damian. I cant wait to try the real thing." Roxanne smiled happily at me, her tails swaying behind her again.

"Me neither. The hot water felt so good on my scales. With just my feet in the water, it felt like my whole body was being warmed up." Plum added, with a smile of her own, but she also had an ulterior motive in mind. She needed an opportunity to put the plan that she came up with back at the plant infested village into effect, and this visit to the hot spring sounded like the perfect opportunity to her. Me and Roxanne would be content, relaxed, and more open with ourselves and each other.

With our excitement building, the three of us left town square, and headed for the main attraction. It wasn't hard to find at all, since its what this town is known for. Once we arrived, we found that the changing areas and hot springs were separated into two sides. One for males, and one for females. Like most unfamiliar things, this confused Plum, but me and Roxanne understood why it was set up this way. I paid for our visit, then I headed to the men's side, while Roxanne took Plum with her to the women's side.

Once I was inside the men's changing area, I looked around, and found pretty much everything one would expect from a hot spring's changing room. Towels, bath robes, baskets for people to put their clothes in, and even some benches. I grabbed myself a towel and an empty basket, then proceeded to undress, or at least get as close to undressed as I could. Since I couldn't remove my legendary shield, I had to settle for removing everything else. I placed all my clothes into my basket, wrapped my towel around my waist, then headed outside to the hot spring.

Upon arriving at the open air bath, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had the entire hot spring all to myself. I walked over to the water's edge, removed my towel, then lowered myself into the spring, letting out a sigh of contentment seconds later. "Ah...That's the stuff." For the first few minutes of my soak, I just sat back and enjoyed the hot spring and the sunset, but not long after that, I finally noticed a statue with a plaque on it. Growing curious, I decided to move over to it in the water, and take a closer look at it all. The statue was a man, a woman, and a boar for some reason. This made me raise an eyebrow, as I turned my attention to the plaque, thinking that it might shed some light on the statue it was attached to.

"The origin and benefits of this hot spring." I read out loud, grateful that I had my shield to help translate this world's language for me yet again, but didn't see much information regarding the boar. "So its a silver boar. I know some people use boars to find and dig up hot springs, but I don't see why that makes a creature worthy of getting its own spot on a statue." I shrugged it off, then read further down the plaque, getting to the effects of the hot spring. "Success in love, huh? The couple that enters this hot spring together will be united eternally." As soon as I finished reading that, my mind immediately pulled up some images of Roxanne and Plum, causing some red to make an appearance on my face.

"This just says couple. I wonder if it applies to harems? And speaking of Roxanne and Plum..." My blush grew, and I grew a smirk to go along with it, as I began to imagine Roxanne and Plum bathing in the women's hot spring. Id never done any peeping before in my life, but the more I thought about my companions soaking in a hot spring, in the same state of undress as I was currently in, the more I thought now would be a good time to start. However, I hesitated because, unlike most women I knew, I cared a great deal about Roxanne and Plum, and I didn't wanna do anything to make them hate me. I lost my smirk, but my blush remained, as I began to feel very conflicted.

"Ummm...L-Lord Damian...may we join you?" Suddenly, the very familiar voice of a certain albino kitsune was heard over by the water's edge, and it sounded very nervous.

Upon hearing that voice, I flinched, and somehow felt excited and nervous at the same time. After taking a deep breath, trying to get my nerves under control, I slowly turned towards the source of the voice I heard, and my eyes went wide when I finally laid eyes on it. _"Oh my Lucifer! Thank you!" _The sight that my eyes were taking in was probably the most beautiful sight Id ever seen in my entire life.

What I was seeing was Roxanne and Plum, standing at the edge of the men's hot spring. Roxanne had a towel wrapped around her body, and a very nervous expression on her face, with said face almost as red as her eyes.

Standing right beside her was Plum, demonstrating far less modesty. Plum didn't have a towel, or anything else on, apart from the slave crest on her chest, and didn't look even a little nervous, nor did she make any attempts to cover herself.

After a moment of stunned silence, I quickly turned away from them, my face growing as red as Roxanne's. "...Girls, not that I'm not eternally grateful for this, but why exactly are you here? This is the men's hot spring."

Still trying her best to get her nerves under control, Roxanne gave me an answer, her eyes gazing away from me as well. "I-I know its sudden lord Damian, but truth be told, it was Plum's idea. Right after we walked into the women's changing area, she started insisting on it. Of course I was...unsure, but damn, this reptile is persistent."

Plum smiled triumphantly, sounding very proud of herself and her work. "I just thought it would be nice for the three of us to bath together, and this seemed like the perfect setting for some things I want to talk to you two about."

Of course there was no way I was gonna tell them to leave, so I took one more deep breath, then slowly moved back over to my spot against the wall in the water. "Okay, as long as it doesn't bother either of you, then I guess you can stay. But if any other guys come in here and look at either of you for even a second, they're gonna lose their ability to make kids." I said that last part in a rather threatening tone, once again grateful that I still had my shield with me at this time.

"Oh, don't worry about that lord Damian. I blocked the only way in with my Wall of Stone spell after me and Roxanne walked in. No one will bother us." Plum informed me, having already thought ahead.

I was rather surprised by how prepared Plum was, but also very proud of her too. "Wow...Nice work Plum. I'm impressed."

My words made Plum smile again, very happy to hear praise from me. "Thank you lord Damian. I put a lot of thought into this plan of mine." The lizardwomen then entered the hot spring, letting out a content sigh of her own. "Ahhhhh...The water is so warm. It feels so nice. Come join us Roxanne. Don't be shy."

Roxanne heard Plum's words, then turned back to the hot spring, looking at her and me, relieved to see that my gaze was still elsewhere. "...Lord Damian, could you please not look this way for a minute? Plum might be fine with it, but I'm not ready for you to see me naked yet."

At that moment, I was glad the water was murky enough that no one could see anything below its surface, as Roxanne's words made my excitement spread to the rest of my body. Still, as much as I wanted to look, my companion's feelings came before anything else to me. "Don't worry Roxanne. I wont. You have my word." I said to her, secretly pinching the back of my left hand under the water, trying to use the pain to get my mind and body back under control.

"I trust you lord Damian. Thank you." Roxanne said to me, then slowly removed her towel, and entered the water with me and Plum. Straight away, she couldn't help but smile and let out her own content sigh, as she felt the hot spring melt nearly all of her worries and concerns away instantly.

It took a few minutes of silence, but we all managed to get comfortable and start facing towards each other again. The three of us were now sitting against one of the hot spring's walls, with me in the middle. Roxanne was on my left, and Plum was on my right. Both me and Roxanne turned to Plum, and I was the one who finally broke the silence. "Okay, now that we're all comfortable, I think I speak for both of us when I say can we please get an explanation Plum?"

"I'm sorry I made things weird for both of you, but lately I've been feeling like there's more to your stories about why you two hate humans so much. Yes, lord Damian has told me his story about his good friend Shawn, and Roxanne has told me her story about her parents, but I feel like there's more to it then that. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think I can sense the emotions of those I feel close to." Plum gave us the best explanation we could, and neither me nor Roxanne denied her hypothesis.

After taking a moment to process all of Plum's words, I let out another, deeper sigh. "Well, its possible that you have a skill that allows you to sense emotions Plum, though I'm not sure how you got it. I guess we'll chalk that up to dragon emperor genes, much like your transformation. Anyway, you're not wrong. Something has been bugging me lately. What about you Roxanne?"

"Damn Plum, is there anything you cant do?" Roxanne asked Plum, rhetorically of course, then she sighed too, even deeper then I did. "I guess there really are no secrets in this party. She's got me figured out too." Her ears went down, as she looked like she had something weighing on her mind as well.

Plum looked at us, though she didn't need to in order to see that there was something we both wanted to get off our chests. "I hope you two don't mind that I did this. I just don't like it when you two are upset." She confessed to us, starting to look a little upset herself.

Seeing this, I gave her a reassuring rub on top of her head, accompanied by a reassuring smile. "Its okay Plum. I'm not upset with you, and I'm sure Roxanne isn't either."

"Of course not. I could never stay mad at you Plum. Besides, lord Damian really should know the whole story." Roxanne added, giving Plum another smile.

Plum smiled back at us, happy that we weren't upset with her at all. "Thanks lord Damian. You too Roxanne. So, who'd like to go first?"

"I suppose I will." I took a deep breath, then sat back, and looked out at the setting sun. "Lately, I've found myself thinking back to the life I had back home, before I came to this world. My parents only wanted the best for me, like I've told you girls, but I always told them that I didn't want some stupid job. But now look at me. I'm a travelling merchant. The demon lord of the earth dragon. I know its not exactly what they had in mind for me, but its the same basic idea. I know all of this sounds kinda dumb, but after years of turning them down, getting sent to another world was what it finally took for me to get a real job. And honestly, I've kinda been enjoying it. It makes me wonder how my family would feel about all of this. Would they be proud of everything I've done since coming to this world?"

Roxanne and Plum listened my every word with mixed emotions. Neither of them had ever met my family, and there was a good chance they never would, but they could tell that despite how much I claimed to hate my old world, there were still things about it that I was unable to stop myself from thinking about. "That's not dumb at all lord Damian. I'm sure anyone would feel the way you're feeling. I know I would. You must've had some pretty good times with your family then, huh?" Roxanne said to me in a comforting tone, with a smile to match, knowing how it feels to miss your family, as well as the life you grew up with.

Suddenly, I let out a small chuckle, and smiled as I spoke my next set of words. "There was a time when me and my family were really close. When we didn't fight with each other at all. When I was young, we all had a lot of fun together. Goin to the beach, playin games, even takin a few trips around the world. But the most fun I ever had was when dad took me out fishing with him. While mom was on the beach with Alex, Julie, and Andrew, me and dad were either on the docks or out on a boat fishing in the ocean. One time, we even caught a big shark. A tiger shark. It grabbed my line, and dad had to help me reel it in, but we caught it, took a picture, then let it go. I've never forgotten how that felt. It was one of, if not the best moment of my life. Apart from coming to this world and meeting you two of course."

My companions both smiled at me after hearing all of that, feeling happy for me, and happy that they got to hear all of that. "So there were at least some humans you felt close to besides Shawn. One day, if you ever got the chance, would you return to them lord Damian?" Plum asked me, as she and Roxanne almost dreaded the answer, but didn't wanna influence my decision.

I didn't even need to think about it, and shook my head before responding. "Nah. Ill admit, I am gonna miss em, and I hope their not worryin about me too much, but this world has everything I've ever dreamed of. Despite a few problems, this world is my home now. I know I haven't known you girls nearly as long as my family, but you two are like family to me now too. My family back in my home world will be alright. I'm stayin right here, where I finally feel like I belong."

Roxanne and Plum both breathed a mental sigh of relief, as their smiles towards me grew even warmer. "Thank you for saying that lord Damian. We'd both be really sad if you left us." Plum told me, not that I needed her to.

"I know, and Id feel the exact same way, but don't worry. That'll never happen." I assured them, but turned to Roxanne, having wrapped up my little confession. "Your turn Roxanne. So what's been eating you?"

Plum turned to Roxanne as well, giving her a very curious look. She might've been able to sense emotions, but no details.

Roxanne took a moment to collect her thoughts, facing me and Plum as she spoke, despite the obvious discomfort she felt in discussing this particular topic. "Okay, if I'm gonna tell you this, I'm gonna do it right. And that starts with me telling you two a little about this world's history."

This really grabbed my and Plum's attention, increasing the suspense we were feeling. It never really dawned on me before, but I hadn't ever bothered looking into the history of this new world very much since Id arrived.

After another moment of mental preparation, Roxanne began her tale. "I know you've seen a place on our world map called Siltvelt. I've never been there myself, but its a country just as big and prosperous as Melromarc, but most of its inhabitants are demi humans, and a little more then ten years ago, Melromarc declared war against them."

This seemed to surprise Plum, but not me. In fact, I rolled my eyes, getting an image of Aultcray in my head. _"Tch. Figures that dickweed would declare war against a country populated by demi-humans. He probably did it for some incredibly stupid and petty reason too. One day I'm gonna rip his heart out and show it to him. If he even has a heart." _I quickly thought to myself, then returned my full attention to Roxanne, eager to see where her story will go from there.

"I don't know all the details, but Aultcray was definitely the king of Melromarc back then, so the cause of the war could've been any number of reasons. I know one thing for sure though. Melromarc are the ones that started it." Roxanne looked and sounded angry while she talked about Melromarc, but she calmed back down as soon as she got to the next part of her story. "Anyway, at the time, Siltvelt was ruled not by a king, but by four different races of demi-humans. The Aotatsu, the azure dragons. The Genmu, the black turtles. The Shusaku, the vermillion birds. And the Hakuko, the white tigers."

Suddenly, I got really excited out of nowhere, and ended up unintentionally interrupting Roxanne's story with a loud gasp. My eyes were wide from shock, as a certain group of memories surfaced in my mind.

This sudden outburst made both Roxanne and Plum flinch, looking at me with surprised expressions, as they wondered where this had come from.

I got myself under control after about five seconds, then let out some nervous laughter. "...Sorry about that girls. I didn't mean to interrupt you Roxanne, but are you serious? Azure dragons, black turtles, vermillion birds, and white tigers?"

"Y-Yes. I guess you could say that their what we demi humans consider royalty. Why so shocked lord Damian?" Roxanne questioned me, raising one of her eyebrows at me as she did.

Before answering her, my excitement continued, as I got a big smile on my face, and even some sparkles in my eyes. "Because this is big for me! Back in my world, there's a legend about four creatures called the Four Symbols or the Four Guardians. The azure dragon of the east, Seiryu. The black turtle of the north, Genbu. The vermillion bird of the south, Suzaku. And the white tiger of the west, Byakko. Their legend didn't originate from my homeland, but their legend is one of my personal favorites, and in this world their more then just deities. Girls, we have got to get a girl from each of those races to join our party. We just have to." I had already made up my mind right then and there, as the sparkles in my eyes turned into flames of pure determination.

Plum listened to me, tilted her head in confusion, but still smiled at me. "I don't really understand any of this Four Guardians legend stuff, but I love that look in your eyes lord Damian. If that's what you want, then you know I'm with you."

On the other hand, while she was amazed by the information I provided about my world, Roxanne looked rather unsure about my vow. "That might be a bit of a tall order lord Damian. I mean, I'm all for making our party as powerful as possible, but I'm afraid its not that simple. While the four races do govern Siltvelt together, they don't all get along. The Aotatsu and Hakuko races hate each other, and the same is true for the Genmu and Shusaku races. I'm sure we could get representatives from at least two of the four races to join our party, but I doubt you'll be able to convince a representative from all four races to join the same party."

I finally calmed back down after that, but kept my smile, responding to Roxanne's concerns with a tone of confidence. "Well that's another thing these races have in common with the legend then. In the legend, Seiryu and Byakko don't like each other either, nor do Genbu and Suzaku. But for most of my life, people have told me that things like magic, other worlds, and demi humans don't exist, but now look where I am. I may have ended up in this world by chance, but it happened. I may not know why those pairs of races hate each other, but we'll make it work. I don't know how, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I've loved the legend of the Four Symbols ever since I first heard about it, and now that I have a chance to fight alongside them, get to know them, and add them to my harem, there's no way some grudge is gonna make me give up on any of them."

"Anyway, why don't you finish your story Roxanne? I know me and lord Damian would really like to hear the rest." Plum got us all refocused on the matter at hand, as she and I both turned our full attention back to Roxanne, after I apologized again for interrupting.

"Right. Thanks Plum, and its okay lord Damian. So, as I was saying, of the four races that ruled over Siltvelt, the one that held the most authority was the Hakuko. Most of the demi-humans races were against making peace with Melromarc, but the leader of the Hakuko thought that humans and demi-humans should at least try to get along. That was a big mistake. They sent a single Hakuko to Melromarc with a peace treaty, hoping to build a good relationship between the two kingdoms, but Aultcray had other plans. Aultcray sent a team of knights to kill the Hakuko representative, but the representative fought back, killing all of the knights, then went into hiding. Once again, I don't know all the details of what happened that day, but shortly after that, war broke out between the two kingdoms as a result." Roxanne continued her story, her tone starting to sound rather sad, like what came after that really got to her for some reason.

Just like earlier, Plum gasped at the information Roxanne had given us, but I remained unfazed. In my mind, it was just like Aultcray to pull something like that. _"Damn it! What is this guy's beef with demi-humans?! Did he fall in love with one and then she rejected his ass?!"_

My thoughts were once again brought to an end, as Roxanne was far from finished with her story. "At some point during the war, Aultcray was somehow able to kill the head of the Hakuko race, but the demi humans were still able to beat back the humans and bring the war to an end. However, all was not well in Siltvelt, at least not for the Hakuko. With their leader gone, the Aotatsu, Genmu, and Shusaku races worked together to remove them from power. Shortly after that, nearly all of the Hakuko left Siltvelt, their home. But, as fate would have it, one of them made their way to my home village of Rurorona. I was only eight years old at the time, and I was in the fields just outside my village when I first met this Hakuko."

"I had already made up my mind to become an adventurer, and I was trying to learn how to use a sword, training with a stick, when she appeared over the horizon, out of seemingly nowhere. Her name was Sasha, a female Hakuko. She was only one year older then me, and she was in rough shape when I found her. I later found out that she'd traveled all the way from Siltvelt on her own, all to get revenge on the man who ruined her life, caused her to lose her parents, and forced her to leave her happy life and home behind. Aultcray. But despite her overwhelming ambition, she was still just a kid like me, and she was on the verge of death. So I brought her home with me, and me and my parents took her in and nursed her back to health. From that day on, she was like my big sister, and my best friend." Roxanne smiled as she spoke, as all the fond memories of her time with Sasha played through her head like a movie.

However, as she continued her tale, some tears began to form in Roxanne's eyes as well. "We were always together after that, for five whole years. Sasha never gave up on her goal of killing Aultcray, but she didn't let that stop her from enjoying the life me and my parents gave her. We ate together, we played together, we even trained together. Sasha's affinity was wind magic, and she always fought with her bare hands, never using any weapons. We had so much fun together over the years, and we made a vow that one day, when we were old enough and strong enough, we'd go to Melromarc, become adventurers, and eventually take Aultcray's head, then deliver it to Siltvelt and use it to hopefully regain at least some of the Hakuko's former glory...but the two of us were a little too ambitious for our ages."

My and Plum's expressions saddened when we saw Roxanne start to cry, both of us feeling so bad for her. The tears told us one thing, and one thing only. This story ends in tragedy.

"One day, me and Sasha wandered into the forest beyond the fields outside Rurorona village. We had never actually fought any monsters yet, so our levels were still at one, but we were feeling confident...Too confident. We went into the forest looking for weak monsters to fight, but ended up running into some adventurers from Melromarc instead. Given how rare kitsune and Hakuko's are, the adventurers started talking about catching us and selling us as slaves right away. I was so scared, but Sasha kept her cool, and used one of her spells to give us some cover to escape. We both ran as fast as we could when we got the chance, but the adventurers weren't far behind us. I used my illusion magic to give us a chance to hide, and in the few seconds we had, we decided to split up and meet back at Rurorona village, so we split up and tried to lose the adventurers. I was able to make it back home, and waited for Sasha...but she never came back..." Roxanne continues to tell us her story, as more and more of her tears fell into the water of the hot spring.

At that point, me and Plum couldn't help shedding a few tears of our own, feeling so bad for Roxanne. I also made a mental note to ask Beloukas about this the next time we see him, thinking that he might know something about it, since Sasha was likely sold as a slave in Melromarc.

"...I told my parents what happened, and they gathered a search party together. For the next three days, we looked all over the forest...but all we found...were signs of a struggle...Sasha was gone...The humans took her...My sister...My best friend...I haven't stopped thinking about her since that day...I miss her so much...I really hope she's okay..." Roxanne was forced to pause in between her thoughts, as her sobs and sniffles began to overwhelm her.

It was just too much for me and Plum to watch after that. Without a word, Plum moved around to Roxanne's left side, putting her between us, then me and Plum both hugged her, doing our best to comfort her.

Roxanne let out a small gasp when we did this, followed by another sniffle, as she looked at me, then at Plum. She didn't say another word, but she didn't have to ask what we were doing or why we were doing it. Instead, she just hugged us back, putting one arm around each one of us. "...Thanks. I love you two. You're the best."

"We love you too Roxanne, so please don't cry. I promise, one day, we'll find Sasha. She has to be in this screwed up kingdom somewhere, and we've already been to a good portion of its towns and villages. So there aren't that many places left to look." I spoke to her in a gentle tone, and finally realized why she was so worried about me back when I was experimenting with the plant monster seeds. She didn't wanna risk losing the only loved ones she has left in this world.

Plum nodded in full agreement, doing some sniffling of her own. "No wonder you hate humans so much Roxanne...If anyone took you or lord Damian away from me, Id probably hate them too. I don't know how, but we'll find Sasha someday. I give you my word."

Roxanne slowly dried her tears, sniffling one more time, then smiled at me and Plum. "I lost everything because of humans, but thanks to humans...now I have you too. I don't know if Ill ever be ready to fully forgive them, but I am very grateful to have you two in my life now. Lord Damian, Plum, thank you for caring about me."

I smiled too, then gave Roxanne a kiss on her cheek. "Of course Roxanne. Same to you. And thank you too Plum. This plan of yours was sudden, but I'm glad you did it."

Roxanne nodded in complete agreement, feeling a lot better after telling me and Plum her whole story. "Yeah, thanks Plum. Thanks a lot. You're a real sweetheart."

Plum was very touched and overjoyed to hear these things from us, as she got a big smile, then pulled me and Roxanne into a very tight hug. She didn't realize it, but she pulled me and Roxanne so close to her, that our heads ended up buried in her chest, making it difficult for us to breath. "Awww, don't mention it. It was nothing. Id do anything for you two. I love both of you so much."

Me and Roxanne were happy to hear all of this from Plum, but we also struggled in her grip. She was very strong, and her huge chest was suffocating us, although part of me didn't mind. "...Plum...we love you too...and I wont lie, this feels nice...but could you let us go please?"

"Yeah...Having trouble breathing...A lot of trouble..." Roxanne added, as we both spoke to Plum as loud as we could through her chest.

Plum lost her smile for a moment, blushed a bit, laughed nervously, then quickly let us go. "Oops...Sorry about that."

Me and Roxanne took some very deep breaths after we were released from Plum's grip, both of us doing some blushing of our own, especially me. "Its fine Plum...No worries."

It was then that me and Roxanne were reminded of our current state of undress, as well as how close we were in that state. Plum wasn't embarrassed at all, but me and Roxanne sure were, as our faces turned completely red, and we both turned away from each other again, moving away from each other a little. "W-Well, this was nice and all, but we should probably get out now. We shouldn't soak for too long." Roxanne commented, trying her best to stay calm and collected.

It was the same for me, but it was a losing battle for both of us. "Y-Yeah, the heat's startin to get to me. You two go first. Ill wait here while you two go get dressed. Ill meet you at our room at the inn once I'm dressed."

Roxanne and Plum both agreed, then exited the hot spring. Roxanne wrapped her towel around her body, Plum removed her Wall of Stone from the entrance, then both of them re-entered the men's changing area to get dressed. Thankfully, no men were around, so I didn't need to castrate anyone that evening. Once the girls were done drying off and getting dressed, they left the hot springs, and headed for our room at the local inn.

As for me, I waited a good twenty minutes, wanting to give the girls plenty of time to do everything they needed to do. Once I was sure they had left, I exited the hot spring too, wrapping my towel around my waist before entering the men's changing area to dry myself off and get dressed as well. As soon as I was done, I left to rejoin the girls at our room at the inn, feeling very refreshed and glad that we all decided to do this.

X

On their way to our room at the local inn, Roxanne overheard a pair of young women talking about a type of crystal called latium, and how if one makes a love charm out of it and gives it to the one they love most, its very effective. She also overheard those women say that a bird called a gogoku that lives in the mountains just outside the village collects it, and all of this information definitely gave Roxanne a few ideas.

Fortunately for her, Plum was off in her own little world when the women walked by them, so she didn't hear any of the things Roxanne heard. Roxanne had already accepted my dream of one day having a harem, but that wasn't gonna stop her from trying to score more points with me, especially since she did feel kind of threatened by Plum. She was unable to shake her worries that Plum might steal her first place spot, and she wasn't about to let that happen.

After a good dinner, and some playful banter, the three of us climbed into bed for the night, or at least two of us did. I was fast asleep in one bed, and Plum was out cold in the other, laying next to Roxanne. But Roxanne herself was far from asleep. She waited for me and Plum to pass out, then she quickly changed back into her gear, grabbed her sword, and snuck out into the night. Her mission was clear as day to her though. Head into the mountains, find a gogoku, obtain a latium crystal, make a love charm out of it, and present it to me as a gift.

Getting to the mountains was easy, as Roxanne followed the trail after leaving the hot spring village. "I've got this. Ill just find a gogoku nest, grab a latium crystal, and be back before lord Damian or Plum even realize I was gone." Roxanne had her game face on, feeling high levels of confidence and determination, as she began her hike up the mountain trail. "I love you Plum, but you wont beat me."

However, the second Roxanne turned around a corner, she was met with an all too familiar face. "Beat you at what Roxanne?" There stood the one and only Plum, in her lizardwoman form, wide awake and out on the same mountain as Roxanne, having appeared from out of nowhere.

This caught Roxanne totally by surprise, causing her to let out a short, but rather loud scream.

Roxanne's reaction triggered a similar reaction in Plum, as she too let out a scream of shock.

It only took the two of them a few seconds to stop screaming and calm down, as they both took some deep breaths, and a few more seconds to compose themselves. "Geez...Don't ever do that again Plum. What are you even doing here anyway?" Roxanne questioned her teammate, positive that Plum was sound asleep when she left.

"I'm sorry Roxanne. I didn't mean to scare you. I woke up, saw that you were gone, and followed your scent here. I made sure not to wake up lord Damian though, so don't worry about him." Plum explained herself, having woken up literally two three seconds after Roxanne left their room at the inn. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. What are you doing out here so late at night?" The lizardwoman looked at her friend with a puzzled expression, very confused by this whole turn of events.

Roxanne didn't have it in her to lie to her friend, even if she was jealous of her, so she told Plum everything. As she spoke, she hoped in the back of her mind that Plum wouldn't get the same idea and ask to join her on her little mission.

Unfortunately for Roxanne, that's exactly what ended up happening. "I see. Well, like they say, the more the merrier, right? Ill help you find this gogoku nest, then we can both get latium crystals for lord Damian. Doesn't that sound great Roxanne?" Plum asked with a happy tone and a smile, inviting herself along for the mission, turning away from Roxanne, and eagerly continuing down the mountain's pathway.

Roxanne watched Plum walk on ahead of her, and let out a sigh, starting to look and sound mildly annoyed. "Yeah. So great." The kitsune said in a sarcastic tone, then quickly caught up to her teammate, as the two of them continued their journey up the mountain together.

For the first ten minutes of their journey, Plum hums a cheerful tune to herself, but Roxanne remains silent. Roxanne tries her best to keep pace with Plum, but given the difference in their levels of physical strength and stamina, it quickly becomes a lot harder then one would imagine.

About thirty minutes or so after that, Roxanne was forced to stop and catch her breath. Ordinarily, a hike up a mountain like this one wouldn't be a problem for her at all, but she was burning herself out trying to keep up with Plum. She knew that she could simply ask Plum to transform into her dragon form and give her a ride to the top of the mountain, and while she was completely sure that Plum would say yes to a request like that one, Roxanne decided against asking. She was already jealous of Plum, and the last thing she wanted at this moment was another reason to be.

However, it didn't take Plum long to notice that Roxanne had stopped following her, as she also came to a stop and turned around to see where her friend was, and if she was okay. The lizardwoman ran back down the path, stopping in front of Roxanne, not tired or winded in the slightest. "Is something wrong Roxanne? I've been sensing some distress from you since we started up the mountain, and I'm not talking about your obvious level of fatigue."

Roxanne took a drink of water from the bottle she brought with her, then sighed in defeat, turning to face Plum. "I suppose there's no use hiding anything from you Plum, so here it is. I see the way lord Damian looks at you."

Roxanne's words made Plum raise and eyebrow and tilt her head slightly, giving Roxanne her usual confused expression. "Huh? What do you mean Roxanne?"

"Back when we first bought your egg, lord Damian was really excited by the idea of adding a dragon to our party. And ever since you hatched, you've demonstrated time and time again how amazing you are Plum. Your caring, strong, fast, you can transform, wield powerful earth magic, sense emotions, and as if all of that wasn't enough, you've got these going for you too." Roxanne spoke to Plum in a very envious tone, reaching out, and grabbing onto one of Plum's breasts, giving it a few good squeezes. The albino kitsune let go a few seconds later, and sighed once more, even heavier this time. "...I guess what I'm trying to say is...that I'm jealous of you Plum."

Plum wasn't bothered or embarrassed from Roxanne grabbed her chest, but hearing Roxanne admit that she was jealous of her did make her think. After thirty seconds of contemplation, Plum gave Roxanne a small smile, expressing her own feelings on the matter. "I see. That's kind of funny Roxanne. Truth be told, I was always a little jealous of you."

Plum's response caught Roxanne completely by surprise, as she looked at her teammate, thinking that she misheard her for a moment. "...Are you serious Plum?"

Plum nodded at Roxanne, keeping her smile, as she began to explain herself. "I am Roxanne. You and lord Damian have known each other so much longer then I've known either of you. Its clear to everyone, especially me, that you two have an extremely strong, unbreakable bond. In fact, that's why I'm always trying so hard to get closer to you two. I don't wanna be left out. And please don't ever think less of yourself Roxanne. Your strong too, and your good with a sword, your magic is very versatile, and honestly, I think your way more beautiful then I am Roxanne. So I guess, in a way, I've been kind of jealous of you too."

Roxanne couldn't believe her ears, as she looked at Plum in total disbelief for a full minute. Once that minute had passed, Roxanne was able to compose herself, then reached out, and grabbed Plum's hand. "Come on Plum. Lets go get that latium crystal. Together." She smiled at her scaly friend, having no idea that Plum felt that way. Roxanne's feelings had completely turned around by that point. At first, all she could think about was not letting Plum get ahead of her, but now, all she wanted was to make Plum feel accepted.

Plum lightly gripped Roxanne's hand, very happy and touched by Roxanne's actions and sudden change in mood. "Lead the way Roxanne." With that, the duo continued their ascent up the mountain, making sure to pace themselves this time. They did stop once to get some shut eye, not wanting to be overly tired when they returned to me, but the second they awakened from their slumber, it was right back to the mountain path.

The duo finally reached the top of the mountain right as the sun was starting to rise over the horizon, and that's also when they found the gogoku, sleeping soundly in its nest. Roxanne and Plum knelt down behind some large rocks, staring straight at the large bird monster, noticing the faint glow of the crystal they'd come to find at the left side of the monster's nest. "That must be it. Ill use Hide Mirage to sneak up on it and grab the crystal. You stay here and keep your guard up Plum. There might be other monsters on this mountain." Roxanne whispered to Plum, preparing herself to use her magic.

Plum nodded at Roxanne, whispering back to her. "Right. I've got your back Roxanne."

Roxanne nodded in return, then used her Hide Mirage spell, turning herself invisible. Then, being as careful and quiet as she could, she began to slowly approach the gogoku's nest.

However, right as she was just a few feet away from it, the gogoku woke up and started squawking as loud as it could, like it was frightened by something.

This caught Roxanne off guard, but she maintained her Hide Mirage spell. _"Did it sense me? No. That cant be. There's no way." _

"Roxanne watch out behind you!" Plum suddenly called out from her hiding place, warning Roxanne of the approach of another monster. A far less gentle one.

Upon hearing Plum's warning, Roxanne turned around just in time to see a large silver boar charging straight for the gogoku's nest, letting out loud grunts and snorts the entire time. "Oh shit!" Roxanne yelled out, quickly jumping out of the boar's path, as her Hide Mirage spell came to an end.

After that, Roxanne and Plum only had enough time to watch, as the silver boar rammed right into the gogoku's nest. The boar scared off the bird, destroyed its nest, smashed its eggs, and sent the latium crystal flying threw the air, far out of Roxanne's or Plum's reach.

Roxanne gasped as she watched the crystal disappear into the distance, unable to do much else, given that neither she nor Plum could fly. "NO!"

"The crystal!" Plum was in the exact same state as Roxanne, then began to feel sad and disappointed, seeing as they officially failed to obtain the latium crystal they came for.

Even after all the destruction, the silver boar still wasted satisfied, as it turned its attention to Roxanne and Plum next. However, this would quickly prove to be a very big mistake.

Once the shock of losing their crystal wore off, both of the inhuman girls started to give off an extremely angry aura, slowly turning their eyes towards the cause of it all. "Well Plum, we shouldn't leave empty handed." Roxanne shot the boar a rather deadly glare, giving her knuckles a few good cracks.

Plum matched Roxanne's glare, pointing it towards the boar as well. "I hope lord Damian likes pork. I know I do." She then transformed into her dragon form, letting out some low growls.

Sensing the immediate danger, the silver board lowered its head, and began to take a few slow steps backwards, but it was far too late to escape. The girls attacked a split second after that, and the boar let out a very loud roar of sheer terror and agony.

X

Despite their level of fury, Roxanne and Plum brought the silver boar back to the hot spring village in pretty good condition, but they were both feeling disappointed. Night had turned to day by the time they arrived back in said village, and the two were on their way back to the inn we were staying at for the night, with Roxanne in the lead, and Plum right behind her, carrying the boar on her back. They'd failed to collect the latium crystal they set out to find, nor were they able to locate any other gogoku nests, so they hoped the silver boar they brought back with them would still earn them some love and praise from me, but they were looking to be a bit on the unsure side as they re-entered the village.

However, just when all their efforts seemed to be in vain, a pair of villagers called out to them and approached. "Hey! You two!"

Roxanne and Plum snapped out of their little daydreams, and faced the two male villagers that had approached them, wondering what they could want.

"That wouldn't happen to be a silver boar you've got there, would it?" One of the men asked, as he and his fellow villager looked at the beast on Plum's back with great interest.

"Like the statue on the fountain." The other villager turned, and pointed out the statue in the center of the fountain in the middle of the village. It was the same statue that was present in the hot spring, but neither Roxanne nor Plum bothered to read the plaque that was attached to it like I did.

Roxanne and Plum took a moment to stare the statue, starting to understand the true value of the beast they'd brought back with them from the mountains. "I see. So this silver boar must be pretty important to you then, huh?" Plum asked, turning her glance to the boar she had a good hold on.

The villagers were a little surprised to see a talking dragon at first, but that wore off quickly enough, as they both nodded at Plum. "Yeah, it is. So would you give it to us?" One of the men asked, then his friend quickly offered the girls an explanation.

"You see, silver boars are very valuable. We use them in our village rituals. So please sell it to us. We'll give you really good money if you do." The villager begged Roxanne and Plum to sell him and his friend their silver boar, putting his hands together and bowing to them.

This turn of events surprised Roxanne and Plum, as the two faced each other, nodded, then turned back to the pair of villagers. "That depends. Exactly how much money are we talking about here?" Roxanne asked the villagers with a confident grin on her face, as she'd already come up with an idea for a new gift to give to me, and she was confident that Id love this gift far more then any crystal.

And so, after some negotiations, Roxanne and Plum sold the silver boar to the villagers, and made a fairly good sum of money as a result. Once they had their cash, Roxanne filled Plum in on her new idea, and Plum started getting excited too, complementing Roxanne on her idea. The inhuman duo then spent some time looking around the village for their new gift to me, and after a twenty minute long search, they finally found exactly what they were looking for. They quickly paid for it, then started making their way back to the inn, eager to show me the end result of all their efforts.

X

Meanwhile, back at our room at the inn, I woke up a little before Roxanne and Plum re-entered the village. I was surprised and a little worried to see that they were both gone when I woke up, especially since neither of them left a note or anything, but I knew they'd be back sooner or later. I had no idea where they were or what they were doing, but I trusted them completely, so I got dressed and ordered us some breakfast while I waited for them to return. I decided not to eat until they made it back, and hoped they'd make it back from where ever they were before the food got cold.

Luckily, my companions arrived back at our room about three minutes after the food showed up. I turned to face them, sitting on my bed with some plates of food, while their food was waiting on their bed for them. "Good morning girls. Where have you two been?"

Plum was back in her lizardwoman form, and seemed to be hiding something behind her back, as she and Roxanne smiled at me. "Good morning lord Damian. I'm sorry we didn't come back sooner. Its been kind of a crazy night."

The two explained to me everything that happened on their little adventure, all except for how it all ended that is. "So we might've failed to get you a latium crystal, but we ended up getting you something even better lord Damian. I remembered how you said you missed fishing back home, so..." Roxanne said to me, then gestured towards Plum, giving her the signal to reveal the gift.

Seeing Roxanne's signal, Plum moved the gift out from behind her back, showing it to me. "We really hope you like it lord Damian. It was the best one we could find in the whole village." Plum said to me in a joyful tone, holding a very nice looking fishing rod in her hands. It was far more then just a stick with some string tied to it. This was a real, heavy duty, well crafted fishing rod.

My eyes widened the moment I laid eyes on the fishing pole, as I felt all the air leave my lungs. Once I regained my senses, I got up from my bed, walked over to the girls, and accepted their gift from them. "...Roxanne, Plum...I don't know what to say."

Roxanne and Plum kept on smiling, very happy with the reaction their gift had received, as Roxanne's tails started swaying from side to side happily. "You don't have to say anything lord Damian. Its just something nice for always taking such good care of us, and for showing us so much love."

"Its the very least we could do for you. After all, we love you so much lord Damian." Plum added, as some of the scales on her face turned a pinkish red color.

I listened to them, taking another moment to admire my new fishing rod, then I set it down, and turned my gaze back to the two of them. "Roxanne, Plum, you didn't have to get me anything. I love the both of you too, and Ill always be there for you. But I really appreciate this gift. I promise Ill use it well. Now, I'm afraid I don't have any gifts for either of you, so I hope this'll do." I walked over to them, and expressed my happiness and gratitude in the best way that I could think of. Gently placing my hands on Roxanne's waist, I leaned closer to her, and pressed my lips against hers, giving her the best kiss I could muster.

Roxanne's eyes widened this time, and almost her entire face turned red, but she wasn't about to complain or resist. Rather, she brought her hands to my shoulders, and slowly returned my kiss.

Plum watched this with a pair of wide eyes of her own, as more of her face turned pinkish red. She smiled not long after that though, very happy for me and Roxanne.

However, after a full minute of kissing Roxanne, it was Plum's turn. I pulled away from Roxanne, walked over to Plum, and repeated my actions on her. It felt a little odd kissing her, given the shape of her lizard head and mouth, but I didn't mind one bit.

And from the looks of it, neither did Plum. Using what she learned from watching Roxanne, she placed her claws on my shoulders, and kissed me back the best she could.

After another minute had passed, I pulled away from Plum, thanked her and Roxanne once more, then the three of us sat down to a nice breakfast. During our meal, I noticed that Roxanne and Plum seemed to have grown closer during their adventure together, and that made me very happy.

I also noticed that Roxanne and Plum had gotten kind of dirty during their outing, so after we all finished eating, we decided to take one more dip in the hot spring. After I put my new fishing pole away in our carriage of course. Just like before, we all bathed in the same hot spring, as Plum used her Wall of Stone to seal up the entrance, so as to make sure we wouldn't be disturbed.

After a while, our time of leisure had finally come to an end for the time being, as we all exited the hot spring, got dressed, and prepared to disembark on our next mission. I went out to gather supplies and details, while Roxanne and Plum readied our carriage, with Plum transforming back into her dragon form and getting hooked up to it again. Once I had everything I knew we'd need, I returned to the carriage.

My companions looked at me and smiled upon my return, as Roxanne questioned me on our next course of action. "Done already? Where will we be heading this time lord Damian?"

I looked back at them, looking a little uneasy about the information Id just received, but I did my best to stay strong. For my companions, and for myself. "We're going east. And this job might prove to be even worse then the plant monster job was. Brace yourselves girls."

**Roxanne: Phew! What a chapter. Am I right? Id say me, lord Damian, and Plum handled everything very well. I'm so happy lord Damian liked his gift, and I definitely enjoyed his gift to me too. Anyway, I'm afraid that's all you get for now, but don't worry. The author is hoping to have the next chapter out on, or a little after the arrival of the new year. It sounds like our next mission will be a doozy too. I wonder what awaits us this time.**

**Roxanne: Will the three of us be able to overcome this new mission's trials? What other sorts of surprises await us next time? Why does Aultcray hate us demi humans so much? And will we really be able to find my long lost friend Sasha? I really hope she's okay, where ever she is.**

**Roxanne: Until then, all of us here would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be sure to give those you care for some great gifts too. Roxanne over and out.**


	10. Ch 9 - Demon Lord vs Dragon Zombie

**Hello out there everyone! I hope the new year has been treating all of you well. For me, not gonna lie, its been pretty hit and miss so far, but I'm in a good place overall. Especially with the start of Isekai Quartet season 2, and that fact that Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo have joined in on the fun. Has anyone else out there been enjoying the new season as much as I have so far?**

**Anyway, progress has been slower then Id prefer lately, and I'm very sorry about that, but no amount of ups and downs are gonna keep me from bringing you all the next chapter of The Demon Lord of the Shield. And this chapter brings us to one of my personal favorite parts of the story, which I'm sure most, if not all of you know quite well, but you'll all have to read on to find out more like always.**

**And like I always say, I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, its characters, locations, or anything to do with it. I only own my OC's, Damian Abyss, Roxanne, and Plum.**

Chapter 9 - Demon Lord vs Dragon Zombie

After leaving the hot spring village, me, Roxanne, and Plum set out on our journey to the east. Our final destination was a village that had recently been hit with some kind of epidemic. As such, they ordered a lot of medicine, which was currently sitting in the back of our carriage. The three of us hadn't yet found out what's been causing this epidemic, but based on the job request we were given, it sounded way more then a little serious. Naturally, we were all worried that we might catch what ever kind of bug is going around too, so we also made sure to buy hospital masks and a few other essentials to protect against disease and infection. Of course, I had high poison resist, so I wasn't too worried about myself, but my companions didn't, and that made me worry about them far more then myself.

One night during our journey, we stopped and made camp for the night, and built ourselves a fire and a makeshift tent. After dinner, Roxanne and Plum got to sleep fairly quickly, but I was still wide awake, burning the midnight oil. I decided to practice my accessory crafting skills, and I did so with a goal in mind. Since the girls bought me a fishing rod, I wanted to give them some nice gifts too, and since I had all the tools, materials, and knowledge, I decided to make them some gifts rather then buy some. Id been working on their gifts every night since we left the hot spring village, and I was almost done, but I needed to double check the sizes. So, being as quiet as I could, I left my work station, and walked over to Roxanne and Plum to get some size comparisons.

I thought I was being quiet and careful enough not to wake either of them, but then, to my surprise, I suddenly heard the sound of Plum's tired voice. "Mmmmm...Lord Damian?...What's wrong? Cant get to sleep?" She asked me in a tired tone, looking at me with not even half open eyes.

I flinched a bit when I suddenly heard Plum's voice out of the blue, and quickly hide the gifts I had brought with me, as I slowly turned to face her. It was easy for me to see that she was more then half asleep, so I whispered as I responded to her questions, knowing that she'll fall back asleep very quickly once I put her mind at ease. "Sorry Plum. I didn't meant to wake you. And please don't worry about me. I'm just getting some more work done on a little project of mine. Ill get to bed soon. I promise."

"Okay...I love you. Good night." Plum said to me, then laid her head back down, drifting off to sleep in seconds.

I looked down at her, smiled, then quietly left hers and Roxanne's side. "I love you too. Both of you. Sleep tight my girls." I whispered to them, then returned to the carriage to resume my work for a little while longer. Once I felt like Id done enough for the night, I put away all my tools and materials, then went back to the tent, laid down, and joined my party in dreamland. I was still nervous about our current mission, but I had faith in Roxanne and Plum, so I wasn't about to let my concerns keep me from getting a good night's rest.

X

The following morning, we packed everything up, and set out on the road once more. According to our map, we were getting close to our destination, which also meant that we were close to entering the danger zone. So we all kept our wits about us as we moved forward, and as luck would have it, we soon spotted two humans further down the road. They were a woman, and a young boy. Both were carrying large bags, and looked rather weak. Normally, we'd ignore them and keep going, but given the level of danger involved in this mission, I decided that it was worth questioning the two of them, especially since it looked like they were coming from the village we were heading to.

I filled Roxanne and Plum in on my thoughts, then they both nodded, and Plum pulled the carriage over to the woman and child before coming to a stop. Me and Roxanne then exited the carriage, and Roxanne made them some food. She purposely didn't make it as good as when she makes it for me and Plum though.

Never the less, the woman and child were grateful for the food, and were willing to talk after they'd finished eating. "You folks would do well to turn back while you still can." The woman started things off, giving us a warning.

"If you keep going down this path you'll die." The boy added, sounding just as hopeless as the woman did.

None of us were fazed by their warning though, having heard about the dangers and risks already, but we needed more details. "We know that there's a village further down this path that's been suffering for a while due to some kind of epidemic. You two must be from that village, so tell us everything you know about this situation." I requested, still wondering how an epidemic bad enough to cause death could suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The woman listened to my request, then looked down as she gave me a response. "Everything you've heard is true. Our village has been devastated. Even the village chief got sick with the plague. I do apologize, but we don't know how this all started. We've always lived at the very edge of the village and always kept to ourselves, so no one has told us how this all began. But its gotten so bad that we just cant stay there anymore. We don't have very much money, but taking our chances on the road is still better then taking our chances back there."

Her explanation didn't give us much to go on, but it did tell us one thing. This epidemic must be worse then we originally though if its bad enough to make poor families leave their homes behind and take their chances elsewhere. Having gained all the knowledge we could from the woman and child, me and Roxanne climbed back into our carriage, and Plum continued down the road, still bound for the village where all the current troubles were coming from.

As Plum continued to pull the carriage through the forest path, me and Roxanne sat next to each other at the front of the carriage. I held onto the reins, while Roxanne kept her eyes and hands on the map. "Well they weren't much help. Useless humans. What do you think has been happening in that village lord Damian?" Roxanne asked me, sounding mildly annoyed that the woman and child didn't have more information to offer us.

"I'm not a doctor or anything like that, so its hard for me to say. We'll find out for ourselves pretty though I guess." I gave her the best answer I could, then got to thinking as I gripped the reins and stared at the road ahead of us. _"Geez, what's up with this world? First an outbreak of plant monsters, now an outbreak of the plague? How in the hell did this one start? The plant monsters I kinda get, because Motoyasu is the biggest idiot I've ever met, but even he couldn't have screwed up that bad twice in a row, could he?" _I asked myself, then some images of Ren and Itsuki entered my mind, and I started wondering if maybe it was one of those two idiots. _"Oh Lucifer, please tell me I'm not gonna end up cleaning up after them too." _I thought to myself after a long mental sigh, but was unable to shake the bad feeling that was forming in the pit of my stomach.

X

When the three of us reached our destination, we found the village mostly empty, and reeking of death. After finding a place to park our carriage, me and Roxanne climbed down and off of it, before unhooking Plum from said carriage.

Mere seconds after that, the three of us heard a voice, then turned to see that a lone, elderly, and rather sickly looking male villager had emerged from his home to give us some sort of greeting. "Well now, this is a surprise. What brings you travelers to a god forsaken village like this one?"

Me and my party turned to the lone villager, and it was I who addressed him and his question. "I'm a demon lord, as well as a travelling merchant. God forsaken places are kind of a specialty of mine. Me and my companions heard this village was in desperate need of medicine, and we've got plenty of it to offer you and what ever is left of your village. So today's your lucky day."

"Demon lord you say? And a travelling merchant?" The sickly man questioned me further, then his eyes widened with shock, as he slowly put it together on his own. "Wait, demon lord, and that dragon. Could it be? Are you the demon lord of the earth dragon?" Without even waiting for confirmation from me, the man turned, and started to run as fast as he could towards what me and my party guessed was the village doctor's place of business. "Doctor! Doctor!"

I let out a sigh at this whole scene, then proceeded to follow the villager to his local clinic, with Roxanne and Plum not far behind me like always. When we arrived at the village's clinic, the elderly villager informed the doctor of who we were, then the doctor invited us inside right away. Plum changed back into her lizardwoman form before taking her first step indoors, then the village doctor gave us a tour of his clinic, asking me the one question that the elderly man from before failed to ask me himself. "Please forgive me for asking, but are you really the demon lord of the earth dragon?"

Me, Roxanne, and Plum followed the doctor through the halls of his clinic, noticing that the rooms were packed full of very sick villagers as we went. "I am, and I'm here to sell you some medicine. From the looks of it, you could really use it." I answered him, keeping a close eye on Roxanne and Plum the whole time, not wanting them to get sick like the villagers were.

"You don't know the half of it. I'm unable to make anywhere near enough medicine for everyone you see here." The doctor informed us, his tone sounding mildly sad and desperate.

He lead us to a room at the end of the hall, and opened the door to let us inside, where we found at least a dozen beds, and a nurse trying desperately to save the lives of the people in those beds on her own. "Oh, welcome back doctor. Are these people with you?" The nurse asked, looking at me and my party as we entered the room.

"Yes. They've come to sell us some medicine." The doctor gave his nurse a nod, his tone improving a bit, as he was happy to give her some good news.

As they spoke, me, Roxanne, and Plum took a quick look around the room, then I switched to my Book Shield after a few seconds of mulling it over. "Against this level of disease, medicine by itself wont do much. It'll be far more effective if I give it to them myself." I informed the doctor and his nurse, walking over to the bedside of one of the sick villagers, pulling out a single bottle of medicine that I brought along with me.

The medical professionals looked on, not sure what I was getting at or what I was about to do. Roxanne and Plum knew though, having seen my potion enhancement skill many times prior to today, so neither of them had any doubts in their minds regarding the success of my treatment.

I uncorked the bottle of medicine, then slowly gave it to the sick villager, pouring it into his mouth. As I did this, my skill activated instantly, causing my shield and the bottle of medicine to glow. Seconds after the villager finished off the bottle of medicine, he already started looking much better then he did prior to my treatment.

This made the doctor and nurse smile right away, their hearts filling with hope, as they looked on in awe at my powers.

I had a few more bottles of medicine on me, but I knew Id need a lot more then a few to treat so many sick people. So I turned to Roxanne and Plum, asking for some help from them. "Roxanne, Plum, could you two bring me some more medicine from the carriage please? We're gonna need a lot more. And I mean A LOT more."

My companions both nodded at me, hearing my request. "Of course. We'll be right back lord Damian." Roxanne responded to my question, then off they went, heading back to the carriage, and quickly returning with a whole crate of medicine.

With so much medicine on hand, I got started right away, treating every sick villager one at a time. It ended up taking a little longer then I thought it would, as the sun had already begun to set outside. Once I was finally done treating all the sick villagers, me, Roxanne, and Plum loaded what was left of the medicine into a storage shed located outside, next to the clinic. As we did this, we heard the sobs of another elderly human male, turning in the direction of it to see what looked like a makeshift graveyard. In front of several graves was indeed an elderly man, down on his knees, unable to stop his tears as he offered some flowers to one of the graves.

None of us showed much emotion as we watched that scene for a good ten seconds or so, being that the sobbing man was still a human, and the people in the graves were likely humans as well. In any case, our work was done, so we all headed back inside the clinic to collect our reward, as night fell over the village, and the sky grew dark.

After making it back inside the clinic, the doctor and his nurse presented us with our reward, which was a bag containing fifty silver coins. They both bowed to me, as the doctor verbally expressed his gratitude towards me, Roxanne, and Plum. "We cant thank you enough for all that you've done for us. You have our deepest gratitude."

Before responding, I let out a small huff, putting the bag of silvers away for the time being. "Tch. Typical. Your payment is short. Still, at the end of the day, money is money."

"You were truly a great help sir demon lord. Thanks to you and your companions, we were able to stave off the immediate crisis." The doctor thanked us once again, but still sounded mildly worried about something else.

"Yeah, yeah. And at some point in the near future, they'll be right back to where they were before we showed up. Not that it matters to us." I commented in a rather cold tone, leaning back in the chair I was sitting in. "If nothing significant changes soon, this village is as good as dead. Of course, you're more then welcome to buy more medicine from us and prolong the inevitable. The question is, which will die first? The villagers, or your wallets? On the other hand, I suppose we could always just wait for all of ya to kick the bucket, then come back and take all your stuff. And if we don't do it, someone else will sooner or later. Its not technically stealing if ya take something from a dead person."

The medical professionals didn't like my words one bit, as the doctor gasped, and the nurse started glaring at me. "Don't you think we know all of that?! We know that if things continue like this, we wont survive, but...there's nothing we can do about it." The nurse said to me, her anger slowly turning into despair.

The nurse's words made me and Roxanne start to glare at her and the doctor, as we started to get angry at them. "Now that's where you're wrong. There's always something you can do about it! You just have to be strong enough, smart enough, and brave enough to do what needs to be done in order to survive!" Roxanne raised her voice at the humans, causing them both to flinch and take a step backwards, as they listened to what she had to say.

"Ya know, this has been bugging me all day, so why don't you two finally tell us? What exactly is going on in this village? And don't leave anything out." I added, wanting to finally hear for myself how epidemic all started.

The doctor and his nurse calmed themselves down a bit, then it was the nurse who began to give us an explanation. "We believe the plague is being caused by the wind coming from the mountain just outside our village. Its where most of the monsters in this area live." She and the doctor turned, looking out the only window in the room, which had a pretty good view of the mountain she was referring to.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all took a look out the same window too, still able to see the mountain the nurse was referring to through the darkness of the night. I needed more details though, so I quickly asked a follow up question. "Exactly what kinds of monsters call that mountain home?"

The doctor took over from there, answering my next question with a small story. "One in particular stands out. About a month ago, a large dragon that had nested up on that mountain was killed by the sword hero. That much was good news at least."

I did recall hearing about that a while ago from some of the merchants at the merchant's guild. I turned back to the doctor after hearing it from him, still needing more information about the disaster that had befallen his village. "We'd heard rumors about that, but I fail to see how that relates to the outbreak of the plague that's infecting this village. Elaborate."

"After word got out that the sword hero slayed a dragon not far from our village, many adventurers began coming to our village to see the dragon's corpse for themselves. Many of them stayed at our local inns, and purchased supplies from our shops. All of it certainly helped our village to flourish of course, but then one day, adventurers who went to go see the dragon's corpse had started to collapse, one after the other. The dragon's flesh had begun to rot, and started emitting some kind of poison." The doctor finished his explanation, lowering his head once again, the memories of all of it still very fresh in his mind.

As soon as the doctor had finished speaking, both me and Roxanne gave him and the nurse some looks that said "Are you serious?" I let out a heavy sigh, then started to form some thoughts on the matter. _"Oh my Lucifer! First Motoyasu?! Now Ren?! I'm starting to detect a pattern here. And I'm assuming Itsuki has, or will screw something up at some point too, which me, Roxanne, and Plum will then have to clean up. Damn them! Those dumbasses are probably still thinking of this world as nothing more then a game, but its not. In a game, when a monster dies, it disappears. But in this world, much like our previous worlds, when you kill something, it eventually rots if ya don't do anything with it. No wonder this village stinks so bad. That's death I've been smelling, and apparently rotting dragon flesh. Still, like with the plant monsters, maybe the blame isn't all Ren's."_

I finished thinking to myself, then faced the doctor and nurse again, giving them a very harsh glare, as I told them exactly what I thought about their current situation and the events that lead up to it. "So, let me see if I've got this right. The sword hero killed a dragon, and suddenly people came from miles around to see one of the achievements of one of their precious cardinal heroes. You're all so star struck that no one even thinks about cleaning up the corpse before it becomes a problem, and now its all come back to bite you in the ass. Well isn't that just like you stupid fucking humans?! To turn a murder into a damn tourist attraction, and never think about the consequences! That dragon might've been a monster to you, but dragons aren't like other monsters! They're intelligent, and they're on the verge of extinction! You and your whole story make me sick! Way sicker then any of your villagers are! That's for damn sure! I mean, I have a dragon in my party, and she has nothing but good in her heart! How do you think this makes her feel?! Huh?!"

Once again, the doctor and nurse flinched and took a step back, while I took a few deep breaths, calming myself back down and catching my breath. Suddenly, my words caused me and Roxanne to realize something. Plum had been quiet this whole time. She never said a word, and that made me and Roxanne start to worry. The two of us quickly turned toward Plum, and what we saw made us both gasp in pure shock, as we felt our eyes widen and our hearts sink in our chests.

Plum was crying. She was still staring out the window, looking up at the mountain where the dragon's corpse was located, with tears rolling down her face. Apart from the few that we'd seen pulling carriages around Melromarc, Plum had never even met another dragon in her life, but she clearly felt very sad upon hearing the doctor's story.

This was perhaps the biggest shock that me or Roxanne had ever experienced in our entire lives, as we looked at our dear friend, starting to feel sad ourselves. Plum was usually always either happy or confused, which was cute, but never sad or upset about anything. So seeing her in her current state really made us worry about her.

"Plum..." A few tears appeared in my eyes, but then my glare returned with a renewed level of rage, as I turned back to the doctor and nurse, raising my voice at them yet again. "Rgh! If you idiots know what's wrong, then why haven't you done anything about it yet?! Get your asses up that mountain! Clean up that dragon's corpse! And give it a proper burial!"

The two medical professionals flinched once more, taking a moment to compose themselves before the nurse responded to my demands. "Please understand. We're very sorry about your friend. We meant no offense, but we're unable to remove the dragon's corpse. That mountain is filled with violent monsters, so the only ones that can even make the trip are the adventurers, but given the number of adventurers who've already died on that mountain, most adventurers refuse to go anywhere near it."

"What's more, the dragon's poison seems to have effected the very ecology of the mountain as well. The mountain has become a toxic deathtrap, and all the monsters that survived the poison have mutated and grown far more powerful and vicious." The doctor added, then he and his nurse gave us an apologetic bow.

Me and Roxanne took a moment to calm ourselves back down too, knowing that all of our yelling wasn't going to help Plum at all, if she was even listening. "What about the royal court? Have you tried asking them for help yet?" Roxanned asked, her voice still filled with rage upon mentioning the royal court.

The nurse gave Roxanne a nod, followed by yet another dilemma. "Yes, and they said they'd send us a shipment of medicine soon, but they also told us that the cardinal heroes are too busy to help us right now. So all we can do is wait I'm afraid."

The nurse's response made me sigh once again, as some images of the king and the three cardinal stooges appeared in my head. "Tch. Yeah right. Busy." I said in a sarcastic tone, then spoke my follow up statement in an annoyed tone, as I found myself thinking about Roxanne's old village, and Lute Village too. "Truth is, the king probably just doesn't give a damn about a small village like this one. Ill bet he didn't bother passing the word along to the cardinal heroes at all. He wants his precious cardinal heroes to do big things, so their reputations and egos grow, and therefore, so does his. Cleaning up a diseased village probably isn't worthy enough in the king's eyes."

Roxanne folded her arms under her chest, and nodded in complete agreement with me, knowing better then almost anyone that Aultcray Melromarc is one cold son of a bitch.

Suddenly, to my and Roxanne's surprise, Plum finally turned away from the window, grabbed onto my arm with shaky claws, and looked at me with tears still pouring from her sad eyes. "...Lord Damian...please...I cant leave one of my own kind like this...I know he's dead, but...Id never be able to live with myself if I walked away now. So please." She managed to stammer out between sobs, doing some sniffling once she was finished pleading with me.

My and Roxanne's expressions softened once again the second we turned to face Plum, as I got up from my seat, and used my cloak to gently dry the tears on Plum's face and around her eyes. "Plum, I never said anything about leaving. If ya ask me, despite all the suffering the people of this village have endured, I think the real victim in all of this is the dragon. Besides, I cant stand to see you cry Plum, and I know Roxanne feels the same way. So if something like this is important to you, we're with ya." I explained to my scaly companion, giving her the brightest and most reassuring smile I could muster.

Roxanne followed my lead, nodding at Plum, and matching my smile. "Lord Damian is right Plum. We'd never just up and leave knowing that you were upset. We're a team, and we care about you a lot. So please stop crying Plum. You look way better when you smile."

Hearing our words and looking at our faces, Plum shed a few more tears, but this time they were tears of joy. Plum sniffled once more, then quickly dried her tears and cleaned her face, giving us a bright and happy smile immediately after she did. "Lord Damian, Roxanne, thank you both so much. I knew I could count on you."

I gave Plum one more nod, then turned back to the doctor and his nurse, losing my smile. "Cancel your request to the royal court. Tell em to go screw themselves. Me, Roxanne, and Plum will take care of it ourselves."

My words caused the medical professionals to look at us with shock once more, and the doctor was quick to emphasize the danger yet again. "Hold on a moment. You don't mean to tell us that your planning on going out there by yourselves, are you? Just the three of you? That is far too dangerous. Not to mention reckless."

Roxanne turned back to the humans as well, losing her smile too, as she gave them a blunt response. "Do you want our help, or not?"

The medical pair slowly processed this turn of events, then they both began to look at me and my party with hope in their eyes. "I cant believe it. There are no words to express our gratitude." The doctor said to us, sporting a hope filled smile to go along with his eyes.

"Hold it. We might be doing this for Plum, but that doesn't mean our services are suddenly free. We'll get rid of the dragon's corpse, but its gonna cost ya." I told them in a firm, unwavering tone, already getting an idea for payment in my head as I spoke.

And just like that, their smiles and hope were diminished, but the doctor continued to try and reason with me. "With all due respect demon lord sir, we've already given you all the money we could spare in exchange for your medicine. And I regret to say that given the state of our village, we don't have very much else to offer you and your companions."

I waved my hand in front of my face before responding, calling to mind the words of the mayor of the village we saved from the plant monster. "Yeah, yeah. I heard this same old song and dance from the last village we saved. So Ill tell you what I told them. I don't want your money. I've got something else in mind."

"Well then what do you want? If its within our power, we'll get it for you. I promise." The nurse said to me, still feeling a bit uneasy, as she wondered what my request could be.

I waved my hand in front of my face one more time, able to tell what she was thinking based on her reactions alone. "Don't worry. Its not what ya think. I have absolutely no interest in human girls like you."

My response earned me a bag of mixed reactions. Roxanne let out some giggles, doing her best to keep from bursting into laughter. Plum tilted her head in her usual fashion, unable to grasp the scene playing out before her at all. The doctor's jaw dropped in pure shock, as he fell completely and utterly speechless. And the nurse gasped, started blushing, feeling very embarrassed and offended, and shot me a piercing glare. "...B-Beg your pardon?"

I ignored her and her question, then proceeded to name my terms. "Here's what you and what's left of your village are gonna do for us in exchange for our help. First, we'll take the money you were gonna pay the royal court with. Second, make sure you spread the word as far and wide as you can that the sword hero is responsible for almost destroying your village and killing all of its people. And finally, starting now, this village and everyone who calls it home are now under the protection of demon lord Damian Abyss. If anyone from Melromarc comes around, be sure to let em know all of that." My goal was pretty much the same as it was back in the plant monster village, except this time, it was time to poison Ren's reputation, since he'd been stupid enough to give me the opportunity to do so.

The doctor and his nurse regained their composures as they listened to my terms, and being that they didn't really have any other choices, they both gave me a nod of confirmation. "Very well. If you can dispose of the dragon's corpse and save our village, we will accept your terms." The doctor said to me, still harboring some doubts regarding the success of this mission me and my party had been tasked with.

Their compliance made me grin, as I proceeded to walk passed them. "Then we have a deal. Consider it done. Roxanne, Plum, lets go have ourselves some dinner and then turn in for the night. We leave for the dragon's corpse first thing tomorrow morning."

Roxanne and Plum both smiled at me, then quickly followed me out of the clinic and back to our carriage. From that point on, we made ourselves a fire, enjoyed some dinner, did our usual workout routine, then it was off to bed, as we all knew we'd need every last ounce of our strength for tomorrow's mission.

I made sure to keep my eyes on Roxanne's and Plum's status bars since we arrived in this village, not wanting either of them to catch the plague and end up like so many of this village's people. So far, there was no sign of infection for any of us, but even as I drifted off to sleep, I refused to let my guard down even for a second.

X

The following morning brought with it a thick layer of fog, but that wasn't nearly enough to stop us. After a quick breakfast consisting mostly of fruit we got from the plant monster village, I switched to my Chimera Viper Shield for the added boost to my poison resistance, then me and Roxanne put masks on to cover our noses and mouths for some extra protection. Since a mask wouldn't fit over Plum's dragon mouth, and she had to be in her dragon form to pull our carriage up the mountain, we didn't give her a mask, which left me feeling very concerned. However, I pushed those concerns aside for now, and gathered up all the supplies I knew we'd need for our new mission with Roxanne and Plum. Once the carriage was loaded up, me and Roxanne hooked up Plum to it, then the two of us climbed aboard. Once we gave her the go ahead, Plum began to pull the carriage along the path that lead to the top of the mountain, moving as fast as she could without being reckless.

As we began our trip up the mountain, Roxanne decided to try breaking some of the tension we were all feeling. "I hope Plum will be okay on this mission, and I'm not talking about the toxic fumes on this mountain."

I kept my hands on the reins, and my eyes on the path in front of us, but still nodded in response to Roxanne's concerns. "Yeah, I hope so too. We both saw how upset she got just thinking about this dead dragon, so it really makes me worry. How will she react when she actually sees it and helps us dispose of it?"

Roxanne turned away from me, looking to the path ahead, and Plum too, her eyes filled with concern at the very thought of all of that. "Well, maybe Plum could take something from the dragon and keep it as a memento. That might help. I know the dragon's been rotting for a while now, but there's gotta be some decent parts still left, right? Like a claw or a fang maybe."

"Maybe, though I'm not sure how Plum would feel about that. I do hope you're right about there still being some good parts of the dragon after all this time though. Honestly, I was kinda hoping to collect a good enough amount of scales from this dragon, then use em to upgrade my armor. Obviously I wont do that if its gonna upset Plum though. Still, I wonder what kind of shield Ill get from a piece of this dragon's flesh, even if it is rotted." I answered Roxanne, then began to imagine the possible shields I might acquire from feeding dragon flesh to my shield. Admittedly, those thoughts did start to excite me.

Roxanne listened to me, but kept her eyes on Plum. "I'm not trying to sound insensitive or anything, but I have to admit that I am still surprised. Why would Plum get so upset over a dragon that she doesn't even know?"

I wasn't totally sure about that myself, but after giving it some thought, I felt like I already knew the answer. "I think its partly because Plum is such a nice and kindhearted being, and partly because its a dragon just like her. Its that simple. I mean, think how you would feel if you found out that something like this happened to another kitsune Roxanne."

Just one thought about something like this happening to one of her own kind was more then enough to make Roxanne's ears go down, as she began to feel even more concern towards Plum, gaining some semblance of what she must've been feeling at that moment. "Okay. Point taken."

Seeing this, I reached over, and gave Roxanne a few gentle pats on top of her head, smiling at her under my mask. "Don't worry Roxanne. After this mess is taken care of, I'm sure Plum will go back to being the happy, fun loving, caring, kinda clueless reptile we know and love. C'mon. She wont let something like this keep her down forever, right?"

Roxanne looked at me again, thought about it for a moment, then smiled under her mask too, nodding at me. "Yeah. Your right lord Damian. I might have an affinity for light magic, but Plum is definitely the light of our party."

I couldn't have said it better myself, but before I could respond, my and Roxanne's attention was suddenly turned to Plum, hearing the sound of her voice. "I'm very sorry to interrupt, but we've got company you two!"

Me and Roxanne turned to face the path before us once again, and what we saw was a hoard of monsters blocking said path ahead of us. And from the looks of them, what the doctor told us was true. Every single monster we saw looked like it had gone through some kind of mutation. They also looked extremely angry and violent, but like most thing we'd gone through, we weren't about to let a pack of monsters stand in our way.

"As much as Id like to see what kinds of shields Id get from a group of mutated monsters, we don't have time to deal with these things. Our time in this cloud of poison is short! Run right through em Plum!" I yelled to her, gripping the reins tightly, while Roxanne braced herself for the impact.

Plum glared at the monsters ahead of us, clearly not planning to show them any mercy. "Out of the way! Go Crystal Crusher!" Plum's whole body gave off a purple colored glow, as she activated her spell. As she ran, three huge purple crystals appeared from the ground around us, floating in mid-air after breaking free from the earth. The three crystals then floated over to Plum, easily keeping pace with her as she continued to run full speed towards the hoard of monsters. One crystal made its way to her left side, another went to her right side, and the final crystal floated above her head. The three of them then met at the front of Plum's body, forming a kind of tank that covered her almost completely, as well as a good portion of the carriage.

With Plum's spell literally keeping us covered, Plum ran right through the pack of monsters, ramming each one that dared to stand in her way. She maintained her spell for most of the journey up the mountain from that point onward, never faltering even once. Plum was more determined then she'd ever been before, and was fully prepared to see our mission through to the end no matter what kinds of dangers we faced.

X

All of Plum's effort really paid off, as we ended up reached the top of the mountain way ahead of schedule. It wasn't hard to tell that we were very close to the corpse, especially with the strong scents of death and rotting flesh wafting through the air. After finding a safe enough place to park the carriage, me and Roxanne disembarked, and unhooked Plum from said carriage. But before moving on, Plum helped herself to some fruit and water to help build her stamina back up. Once snack time was over, me and Roxanne grabbed some pickaxes and hammers, knowing that we'd need them to help us break down and then transport the dragon's corpse to a good location where we could burry it.

The three of us continued the rest of the way to the corpse on foot, but Roxanne stumbled almost immediately, as the foul and polluted air started getting to her rather quickly. "This place reeks. And I thought my brother's bedroom smelled bad. Try not to push yourself too hard and keep your breathing steady, okay Roxanne?" I said to her, knowing that it didn't get much more dangerous then where we were at that moment.

Roxanne did as I said, and kept her breathing steady, and to a minimum, as she regained her balance. "Ill be fine lord Damian, but thank you."

Soon enough, we all heard the sounds of hundreds, maybe even thousands of flies buzzing around. We all knew what that meant, and as we made our way up to a fairly large, flat area of the mountain, that's when we saw it. The dead, decomposing body of the dragon. As one would expect, it was anything but a pretty sight. The dragon's body had half dried blood on the ground all around it, both of its eyes were gone, it was missing some of its fangs, and it had very big holes at several points all over its body and wings. We could even clearly see its ribs through one of them. It was so decomposed that it was impossible for us to tell which wounds were from the monster's battle with Ren, and which wounds were simply a result of the decomposing process.

Just one look at her fellow dragon was all it took to make Plum start tearing up again, almost like she could sense all the pain the dragon must've felt during its final moments of life, even though it was already dead. "Oh no...My fellow dragon...Look what the sword hero has done to you..."

Even though me and my party didn't know this dragon at all, and I knew a lot of people would say that Ren did a good thing by slaying it, looking at Plum at that moment gave me an overwhelming desire to punch Ren in the face as hard as I could the next time I saw him. However, I pushed those feelings aside for the time being, maintaining my focus on the task at hand. "I know its hard Plum, but that's why we're here. Don't worry. We'll make sure this dragon is given a proper burial." That may have been an ironic thing for a demon lord like myself to say, but damn it, I really wanted to bring Plum's smile back.

Hearing my words, Plum quickly got her emotions under control, and refocused herself on the task at hand as well. "Yes, we will lord Damian. We have to. If we don't, no one will, and any creature deserves better then this."

Both me and Roxanne were in complete agreement with Plum and her statement, as we each gave her a single nod, then turned our gazes back to the very large dead reptile. "Right, but given its size, I think we'll have to make two or three trips." I stated, knowing the whole time that the dragon was going to be big, but now that I was actually seeing it, I could finally give my best estimate for the amount of work involved for this mission.

"Lets just get started already. This smell is killing me." Roxanne spoke in a slightly annoyed tone, already sick of the various foul stenches in the air, even though we'd only been there for a few minutes.

With that, we decided to stop talking and get to work, as we all took our first few steps toward the dragon's corpse. However, after taking about ten steps towards the corpse, I suddenly came to a stop, then held my arm out in front of the girls, stopping them from moving any closer as well. It may have only been for a second, but I heard something over the sounds of the flies and our footsteps. It sounded like a small rock breaking loose from the corpse's pedestal-like area, then falling to the ground below.

Naturally, Roxanne and Plum turned to me, both of them looking very confused. "What's wrong lord Damian? Why are we stopping here?" Roxanne asked me, as it became clear to me that neither her nor Plum had heard what I heard.

Before answering her, I narrowed my eyes at the dragon's corpse, getting a feeling that something was wrong. A second later, I heard the same falling rock sound again, but it was louder that time.

That's when Roxanne and Plum at last heard the sound, and the two of them slowly turned back to the dragon's corpse as well, starting to get the same bad feeling that I was experiencing.

Our fears soon became reality, as all the flies suddenly scattered, flying away from the corpse. There was a very brief moment of complete silence, followed by some very ominous sounds that sent shivers down all three of our spines.

Right before our very eyes, a pair of red lights appeared in the corpse's empty eye sockets, then the corpses started to pick itself up and move around, letting out some very unusual, but frightening sounding growls. The blood all around the corpses started to flow back into the rotted flesh, and some of the wounds even closed up. The corpse continued to growl and move around, eventually getting back on its four legs, standing tall, spreading its wings, and letting out a loud roar, as the red glow in its eye sockets got brighter. The dragon wasn't as dead as everyone thought it was.

Naturally, all three of us were very shocked by this turn of events, as we all looked up at the monster before us with wide eyes. "What the hell?! A dragon zombie?!" I yelled out, feeling more confused then Id ever felt in my entire life. Although, I had to admit, this new monster was pretty cool. At least to me it was.

"Lord Damian, what do we do now?!" Roxanne was quick to start questioning me, never taking her eyes off the undead beast for even a second.

If I was being honest though, I had no idea. When I tried to look at the dragon zombie's stats through my status screen, but all I could make out was a single status bar and a pair of question marks under it. Needless to say, none of that was helping me much. Granted, me and Roxanne had faced zombies before, during the first wave of catastrophe, and I hadn't forgotten that undead type monster are weak against fire magic, but this was something else entirely. After a few seconds of quick thinking, there was only one strategy that I was able to come up with. "Its no good! Lets fall back for now girls! Now that we know what we're up against, we can come up with a plan and come back when we're more prepared for this!"

With that, me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned around, and started to run back to the carriage was fast as our legs could carry us. Fortunately for us, it seemed the dragon zombie was still rather disoriented after putting itself back together and coming back to life, more or less, which gave us the opportunity we needed to escape.

However, once we made it about halfway back to the carriage, Plum came to a stop, and turned back to the dragon zombie. Despite knowing the level of danger, she just couldn't bring herself to leave a fellow dragon in such a state. So, gathering her fortitude, Plum turned right around, and ran back towards the dragon zombie.

Seeing this, me and Roxanne both stopped at the same time, and turned to Plum, looking at her like she was insane. "Plum, what are you doing?!" Roxanne yelled to her, her level of concern rising to new heights.

"I'm sorry Roxanne, lord Damian, but I cant just leave this dragon like this! If its still alive, then maybe I can talk to it! Dragon to dragon!" Plum yelled back to us, never taking her eyes off the dragon zombie as she ran towards it.

Me and Roxanne took another look at the undead dragon after hearing Plum's words, and both of us had serious doubts about Plum's idea right away. It looked like the monster couldn't even think, much less talk or be reasoned with. The only thing that was clear was that it was very angry, as it let out another audible growl, accompanied by a puff of purple colored smoke.

Id played enough video games and watched enough anime to know what purple smoke meant, and it made me start running over to Plum as fast as I could. "Roxanne, follow me! Plum, stop! Then both of you get behind me!"

Hearing my directions, Roxanne followed me towards Plum, and Plum came to a complete stop, as they both noticed the purple smoke too.

Thankfully, me and Roxanne caught up to Plum just in time, then I move out in front. I held my Chimera Viper Shield out in front of me, channeled all the power I could muster into it, and braced myself, glaring up at the dragon zombie.

With absolutely no time to spare, the dragon zombie shot a stream of thick poisonous breath at us. My shield deflected most of it, and I was safe thanks to my poison resistance skill, but the poison still lingered in the air after the attack was over, and Roxanne started coughing up a storm almost immediately. Meanwhile, Plum didn't seem too bothered by the poison in the air, but she did take some damage from it, causing her to stumble a bit.

I started to worry about both of them right away, seeing in my status screen that they were both poisoned as a result of the dragon zombie's attack, but Roxanne definitely had it worse then Plum did. _"Damn it! My shield cant block all of its poison breath, and I cant tell how many hit points this monster has at all. If things continue like this, we're screwed." _I thought to myself, trying desperately to come up with some kind of plan.

While I was busy thinking, and Roxanne was busy coughing, Plum made another dash towards the dragon zombie. Its poison breath did little to slow her down, as she was feeling even more determination to help it, and us as well.

Seeing this, I tried once again to stop her. "I admire your spirit Plum, but don't do it! That dragon isn't in its right mind anymore!"

"I have to at least try lord Damian! Ill be okay! I promise!" Plum responded to me, as she continue to run towards the undead beast. Once she got closer, the dragon attempted to strike her with one of its claws, but she dodged its attack with relative ease. "Dragon, please hear me! My name is Plum, and I wanna help you! I know what the sword hero did to you, and I don't think Ill ever forgive him for it, but you don't have to suffer anymore! Me and my friends can bring you peace!"

Plum's words only seemed to make the dragon zombie even more angry, as it let out another loud roar, and kept trying to crush Plum with its claws. Plum continued to dodge its attacks though, trying her best to reason with the beast, but got only more rage in return for her efforts.

I watched Plum's attempts for a moment, but then quickly turned my attention back to Roxanne, pulling an antidote out of my pocket for her to drink. "Here Roxanne. Drink this. It should take care of the poison."

Roxanne took a moment to catch her breath, then took her mask off, took the antidote from me, and drank it all down. After that, she let out a sigh of relief, starting to feel better. "Thanks lord Damian, but what about Plum?"

Before I could answer her, the dragon zombie cut me off, letting out another loud roar, as it stepped up its attempts to kill Plum, while all of Plum's attempts to reason with it continued to fall on deaf ears.

"I hate to disappoint Plum, but I don't think her plan is gonna work. We need to at least give her some cover though. Roxanne, use your illusions to make as many copies of Plum as you can, and have them all run around the dragon zombie." I gave Roxanne the only plan I could think of, hoping that if we stalled it out long enough, the dragon would just drop dead again after a while. Or at least give me and Roxanne enough time to come up with something better.

"Right. Got it lord Damian." Roxanne faced the dragon zombie once more, and focused her magic. Her eyes started to glow, and suddenly, about twenty copies of Plum appeared all around the dragon, then they all started to run around in different directions, while the real Plum remained hidden among them.

Plum was a bit surprised by all the copies of her suddenly appearing all around her, but she quickly realized that it was Roxanne's doing, so she didn't question it. In the midst of all her copies, she looked up at the undead dragon once more with a pained look on her face, still trying her very best to understand why all of this was happening. Just then, for a split second, Plum's emotion sensing abilities kicked in, causing her to sense something coming from the dragon. "What's this? Its...calling out to me." Indeed, she did sense something calling out to her from deep within the dragon's decaying, undead body, but she had no idea what it was. But the more Plum thought about it, the more she realized that she had to find out.

"Plum, get back over here now! I know you don't like it, but we have to fall back and come up with a better plan then this!" I made another attempt to get Plum to return to my side, knowing that we could use Roxanne's illusions as our cover to escape. I knew that I could easily use Plum's slave crest to get her to obey me, but I absolutely did not wanna resort to that. Even if it was for their own good, Id hate myself if I ever did anything to hurt my companions even a little. Besides, if Plum was suddenly shocked while she was as close to the dragon zombie as she was now, it would definitely give her away.

After some quick, but heavy thinking, Plum reached a decision, and turned to face me, the determination in her eyes never fading away even a little. "Lord Damian, I'm about to do something that might seem reckless and stupid, but please believe me when I say that I have to do this. Ill come back. You have my word."

Neither me nor Roxanne had any idea what Plum was talking about, but it gave us both a very bad feeling, as we watched our scaly companion run straight for the dragon zombie one more time, revealing her true self to it. "Plum, what the hell are you doing?!" I yelled out to her, feeling my heart rate increase more and more as I watched all of this unfold.

"Hey dragon! Its me! The real me! I'm over here!" Plum yelled at the dragon, trying to get its attention. And boy did she. The dragon looked down at the ground, and saw Plum standing well away from her copies, directly in front of the undead beast. Plum then stomped one foot on the ground, using her earth magic to make the ground under her feet extend upward, heading towards the dragon's head like an elevator with her on it.

The dragon zombie roared once again, meeting her approach head on. And before me or Roxanne could do a single thing about it, the dragon struck Plum with one quick snap of its jaws, sending a lot of blood splattering down to the ground below.

Me and Roxanne gasped, then watched in horror, as Plum disappeared into the jaws of the dragon, then got swallowed down like a mouthful of meat. "NO! PLUM!" Roxanne screamed as loud as she could to moment her shock wore off, as tears began to build up in her eyes, and they stopped glowing, causing her illusions to vanish completely.

Unfortunately, her screams made the dragon zombie turn its attention back to us. The monster roared once more, then fired off another round of its poison breath at us.

Even in my shocked state, I instinctively grabbed Roxanne, held her close to me, and held my shield out in front of us. But just like before, my shield did little to protect us, mostly Roxanne, against the dragon's breath attack.

In the midst of the attack and all the poison in the air, Roxanne continued to call out Plum's name, as her tears started to flow down her face. She did so in between her coughs, which were even worse then before.

As for me, I just stood there in silence, doing my very best to protect Roxanne, gritting my teeth, and glaring up at the dragon zombie. My anger and sadness rose like never before, as I found myself thinking back to every single moment me and Roxanne shared with Plum since she hatched from her egg. Of course I had faith in Plum, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if she really knew what she was doing. Suddenly, as I started thinking about ending up just as lonely, if not more lonely then I was back in my world of origin, the world around me went black. Everyone and everything around me was just gone. It was like I was standing in some kind of neutral space, but I didn't even notice, too lost in my own anger and thoughts.

_"No. I cant end up alone and lost in the darkness again. There's no way I can go through that again. I cant!" _I thought to myself, not even noticing the red colored words that started appearing on my status screen. _"Power...Wrath...Destruction...Flame..." _My upgrade tree appeared on my status screen after that, but I didn't notice it either, as it started glitching out for some reason. _"I hate it...I hate you all...Disgusting human scumbags...You took it all from me..." _I suddenly stopped thinking about Roxanne and Plum, and started thinking about all the people in my life who've ever caused me pain or any kind of emotional distress. The bullies who picked on me and my old friend Shawn, the people who drove him to commit suicide and me to almost do the same, Aultcray, Malty, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki.

_"Wrath!...Hate!...Destroy!...Burn!..." _The memories just kept on coming, hard and fast, as my anger quickly began to boil over, and my upgrade tree started to turn red. The green gemstone in my shield turned red too, as all the different shields in my upgrade tree began to swirl around me, while the rage inducing memories continued to play in my mind. After just a few more seconds, even I wasn't sure what happened. All I felt was pure rage, a desire to destroy everyone and everything I hated, and absolutely nothing else. I subconsciously grit my teeth even more and started growling, as my eyes turned completely red, glowing the same shade of red as the gemstone in my shield. I hadn't noticed it yet, but Id unlocked a new shield. An extremely deadly and powerful one.

Meanwhile, back in the world outside my head, the dragon zombie's breath attack finally came to an end, and Roxanne was struggling just to grip her sword and stay standing. "...How dare you! You killed Plum!...Ill make you pay, you monster!" She glared at the undead beast, gathering all the strength and magic power she could muster, as she took one of her hands off the handle of her sword and aimed it at the monster. "Fox-" A blue flame appeared in her hand, as she got ready to fire an attack at the dragon zombie, but quickly stopped herself, as I walked out in front of her and towards the monster without so much as a word. "Lord Damian! Wait! What are you doing?!" Roxanne called out to me, very shocked and confused by my actions, and even more so when she didn't receive an answer from me.

As I continued to silently march toward the dragon zombie, the beast looked down at me, and gave me some very threatening growls. I didn't falter or back away even a little though, and once I was close enough, the dragon raised one of its huge claws into the air, then brought it down right on top of me with plenty of force behind it. The impact of the dragon's strike created a fairly powerful shockwave, causing a strong gust of wind to blow in all directions around it.

Roxanne let out a loud gasp when she saw this, and quickly jammed her sword into the ground in front of her, holding onto it tightly as she waited for the wind to die down. "LORD DAMIAN!" Despite all the dust and rocks flying through the air in her direction, Roxanne still looked toward the dragon zombie, her gaze locked on the last place she saw me before its attack hit me.

When the shockwave finally died down, and the dust settled, all Roxanne could see was the dragon's claw planted firmly in the ground where she last saw me. It made her strength begin to fade, as she dropped her sword, and fell to her knees, as tears began to form in her eyes. "No...Lord Damian...Not you too...Please...Please don't tell me I'm gonna end up all alone again...Please no...Not again..." The memories of losing her best friend and sister at arms Sasha, then her parents replayed in her mind over and over again at that moment, hoping that it wasn't about to happen to her yet again. However, the next thing Roxanne saw made her sadness vanish, replacing it with shock.

About ten seconds after the shockwave came to an end, I rose up from under the dragon zombie's claw, with my magic power surging like never before, primarily from my shield, which I was currently holding over my head, having used it to block the dragon zombie's last attack against me. Roxanne could see my upgrade tree appearing all over my body, as I let out a very loud, very angry sounding shout. "RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Roxanne had never seen my upgrade tree before, so she wasn't sure what it was at first, but all my shouting made that confusion fade very quickly.

Roxanne picked up her sword once again, and got back on her feet, her eyes locked on me as she did. She was relieved to see that I was still alive, but she could tell right away that something was wrong with me. Very wrong. "Lord Damian, what's wrong?! Please talk to me!" She got no answer, as my magic power continued to surge, getting stronger and stronger by the second.

My power began to let out a few more shockwaves, stirring up some strong gusts of wind as well. This caused the dragon to pull its claw away from me, and stumble backwards a little, continuing to growl at me the whole time.

In the midst of all the dirt and rocks that were swirling around me, the ground under my feet started to crack, and my entire body was engulfed in a strange, red colored energy. Seconds after that, my shield suddenly caught on fire, and transformed into a brand new form. This new shield was nearly impossible to make out from the flames, which continued to burn all over the shield, but I didn't look bothered by them at all. In fact, Id started to grin a rather devilish looking grin, as my eyes continued to glow red.

The undead dragon was clearly unafraid of me though, as it roared me once again, and swung its massive tail at me. However, much to Roxanne's continued shock, the dragon's attack was a complete failure.

I held my new shield out in front of me, and blocked the dragon's tail strike, not getting pushed backward even a little. Then, with a truly demonic look in my eyes, I struck back. "Burn to death." The flames already covering my new shield powered up and expanded rapidly, bursting forth, and coating the dragon zombie's entire tail in white hot flames.

This caused the beast to quickly pull its tail back, as it roared out in extreme pain, and flailed all around, trying desperately to put the flames on its tail out. The flames didn't seem to fade even a little though, and given that undead monster are especially vulnerable to fire magic, the dragon was losing some serious HP, and fast, even if I still couldn't fully make out its status bars.

However, none of that mattered to me in the slightest at that time. As my rage continued to burn like the flames on my shield, and the memories of all those I hated continued to run through my mind, all I cared about was destroying the foe in front of me. I started to walk toward the dragon once again, showing absolutely no fear, only more and more rage. "Die...Burn...Suffer..." I said to myself as I walked, my tone filled with every bit of rage that I was feeling.

The dragon zombie attempted to attack and stop me, swinging one of its claws down at me once again. Unfortunately for the monster, even in my current state, I could still make it out clear as day. Just like with its tail, I blocked the dragon's claw with my shield, then it caught on fire, and the dragon pulled it back, roaring in pain and attempting to put it out just like the flames on its tail. Not a single one of its attempts were successful though.

All the while, I continued to get closer and closer to the undead monster, imagining all the people that I hated getting burned alive by me and my new shield as I went. "BURN IN HELL! ALL OF YOU!" The flames of my shield began to spread to the rest of my body, but I didn't seem hurt or bothered by them at all. In fact, I was so caught up in my rage and all my new power, that I failed to notice how I was making a certain albino kitsune feel.

Roxanne could hardly believe everything she was seeing and hearing from me, and all of it made her very sad. Granted, she had a lot of people that she hated too, but seeing me behaving the way that I was just made her wanna cry. Even though I was gaining the upper hand over the dragon zombie, Roxanne felt like she had to stop me before I caused any irreversible damage to myself. So, after taking a deep breath and gathering her thoughts, Roxanne once again made use of her illusion magic, making three copies of herself appear in front of me. As much as she wanted to run over to me and give me a hug and a kiss, thinking they'd probably do the trick, most of my body was currently covered in flames, and she had no desire to burn herself alive, especially with the dragon zombie's poison still causing high amounts of damage to her.

As soon as I saw them, I came to a complete stop, my expression softening a bit. Sadly, I couldn't fully make out Roxanne's copies through my rage filled gaze, as said rage still had a very strong hold on me.

Roxanne was prepared to break that hold though, as she began to speak to me through her illusions. "Lord Damian please snap out of it! I don't know what's going on with you, but this isn't you! This isn't the lord Damian I fell in love with!" Every single word she spoke was filled with emotion, as she tried her very best to get that emotion through to me. "Yes, there are lots of people in this world that I hate too, but you cant let that hate consume you! If you do, you'll never be the same again lord Damian, but I know who you are! And so does Plum!"

My facial expression softened even more when Roxanne mentioned Plum, as my memories of the people I hated were quickly replaced with the memories of the people I cared about. Memories of my time with Roxanne, Plum, Shawn, and even my family back in my home world.

"I know we both saw Plum get eaten by that dragon zombie, but she would never have wanted to see you end up this way either! We both love you lord Damian, and its not because of our slave crests or that your the shield hero! Its because you care about us! You listen to us! And your always there for us! And we'll always do the same for you! That's why I cant stand seeing you like this! If you ever stop being you...I don't know what Id do with myself!" Roxanne shouted her feelings at me as loud as she could, and finished just in time too, as her illusion spell ran dry and her copies all vanished.

Fortunately, they did their job. Roxanne's words and emotions came through loud and clear, as I felt my rage disappear in seconds. My eyes returned to normal, and the flames surrounding my body began to die down as well, but my shield remained the same. Still in its new form, and still on fire. Naturally, I was very lord and confused, having no idea what happened to me or anything else while I was in my enraged state. The first thing I noticed was my new shield, which did raise further questions, but I definitely didn't hate it.

"Uhhh...Where'd I go just now? What happened? And where'd this totally awesome shield come from?" I was overloading with questions, but tried my best to remember what happened. I wasn't able to remember much, but one thing came to my mind almost immediately. "Roxanne!" I quickly turned towards her, mentally hoping that nothing bad happened to her.

By that point, Roxanne's magic power was nearly spent, and the dragon zombie's poison had been circulating through her body and causing her damage the entire time, so she was looking more then a little worse for wear. She was barely able to keep herself from falling over, leaning over and breathing heavily, but she still looked back at me and smiled, happy to see that I was myself again. "Lord Damian...its really you...That's great...I'm so glad-" She suddenly started coughing up a storm, sounding much worse then earlier, and it didn't stop either. She ended up falling to her hands and knees, and even coughed up some blood.

And just like that, it was my turn to worry about her. One look at her status bar told me that should couldn't take much more of this, but before I had the chance to take even a single step toward her, the dragon zombie made yet another attempt to attack me. By this time, it had put the flames on its body out, and swung its claw at me one more time.

The undead monster totally slipped my mind for a moment, and I barely had enough time to turn back toward it, and defend myself with my new shield. "Damn it! Why wont you just die already?!" The flames that came from my shield weren't as strong as they were when I was enraged, but they were still more then enough to light the dragon's claw on fire once more, and make the beast pull its claw back in great pain.

While I had a moment, I quickly took stock of my and Roxanne's current situation, realizing that our options were seriously running on empty by this point. "This new shield is exactly what we need to beat this monster, but what if I lose control again? Roxanne was able to snap me out of it before, but there's no way she has the strength to do anything like that again. And to top it all off, I have no way of knowing how much HP this monster has left." I grit my teeth, trying desperately to think of a way out of this, but I drew a blank each time I attempted to come up with a plan. Me and Roxanne needed a miracle, and we needed it right then and there.

Then, at that very moment, I finally noticed something that I didn't before due to my rather sudden outburst of rage. On my status screen, I could still see Plum's name and status bars, and they showed that she still had HP left. This caught me completely by surprise, as me and Roxanne definitely saw Plum get swallowed by the dragon zombie, and both of us thought for sure that she was dead. As my brain slowly processed this new information, I turned my attention to the dragon's stomach, picturing Plum moving around inside of it. "...If you've been alive in there all this time Plum, then what have you been doing?" I asked myself, knowing that there was no way Plum would hear me in her current location, as I felt my curiosity began to rise, and hoped that I wasn't just seeing things out of sheer grief.

Since my shield's flames were now weaker, the dragon zombie put out the flames on its claw in no time at all, growing even more angry and aggressive. But then, just as things were looking rather grim for me and Roxanne, our ray of hope and light started to make a comeback. Neither of us noticed at first, but the dragon's stomach began to move out of nowhere. What ever was going on inside its body caused the dragon to let out one final, loud roar of pain and agony, then the undead monster simply fell to the ground and stopped moving all together.

This made both me and Roxanne let out some gasps, which Roxanne did in between coughs, as we both looked at the monster, wondering what just happened to it, and hoping that it stayed down. I didn't wait to find out though. Seeing that I was given the opportunity to heal Roxanne, I took it, quickly turning around and running back over to her side. "Your gonna be okay Roxanne! Just hang on! Fast Heal!" The second I reached her, I held out my free hand to her, and used my most powerful healing spell on her.

My magic flowed through Roxanne's body, expelling all the toxins inside of it, and healing any internal damage she'd sustained as a result of those toxins. Seconds later, Roxanne was finally able to stop coughing, and started taking in plenty of deep breaths as soon as she could breath again. "...Lord Damian...thank you. I think Ill be okay now."

One look at her status bars told me that she would indeed be okay and back to full strength in time, which made me let out a deep sigh of relief. With my mood back to normal, and the battle over, the flames on my new shield went out completely, and my shield returned to its normal form. I still had plenty of questions about that new shield, but I pushed those aside for the time being, and knelt down to Roxanne, slowly and carefully helping her back to her feet. "I'm sorry I couldn't heal you sooner Roxanne, and that I lost my cool back there, but I'm glad you're okay. And I'm not exactly sure how, but I think Plum is okay too."

In her weakened state, Roxanne was forced to lean on me while she slowly regained her strength, not that either of us minded of course. And when she heard the part about Plum from me, she looked at me with a mixture of hope and confusion in her eyes. "...I don't understand. Are you sure lord Damian? But how can that be?"

I unfortunately didn't have answers to either of her questions, but before I even got the chance to respond to her, the dead dragon's stomach suddenly burst wide open without warning. From that new wound, our beloved purple dragon and dear companion Plum emerged, still in her dragon form and covered in the dead dragon's bodily fluids. Plum quickly shook herself clean, then turned to face me and Roxanne. "Good. You're both still okay. I'm sorry I worried you. It took a little longer then I expected to find what I was looking for."

Both me and Roxanne immediately looked at Plum when she appeared from the dead dragon's gut, falling silent for a good twenty or so seconds. Naturally we both had a few questions for her, but at that moment, all that mattered to us is that she was alive and well, as we both shed a few tears of joy before finally responding to her. "Plum...I think I speak for both myself and Roxanne when I say that we're so glad to see that you're still with us. But what happened exactly? We saw the dragon zombie swallow you. And for that matter, why'd you voluntarily jump into its mouth in the first place?" I asked her, thinking that Plum must've had a good reason for doing something that almost gave me and Roxanne heart attacks.

"We trust your judgement Plum, but what you did was pretty crazy. Plus we saw all that blood, and we kind of assumed the worst." Roxanne added, glancing at the blood stains on the ground that Plum left behind just before she vanished into the dragon zombie's jaws.

"Well, for starters, that wasn't blood. I just wasn't expecting the dragon to bite down on me with so much speed and force. It really surprised me, and caused me to throw up some of the fruit I ate before the battle." Plum explained to us, coming to a stop as soon as she made it over to where me and Roxanne were currently standing.

When the two of us heard Plum's response, we both thought back to Plum eating some fruit before the battle began, then her throwing it up when the dragon zombie swallowed her. It took us a full minute to process it all, until me and Roxanne suddenly gained some smiles and let out some light laughter, which made Plum tilt her head at us in her usual confused manner. "Plum, you really are our ray of sunshine, you know that? Just try not to do anything like that again without telling us first, okay?" Roxanne asked our scaly companion in a friendly tone, still recovering from the shock of almost losing her though.

"I'm not really sure what that means, but thanks Roxanne. And okay, sorry again. Anyway, the reason I did all of that was because of this." Plum held her claws out to me and Roxanne, revealing a fairly large, purple colored crystal. The crystal gave off a faint glow, and as Plum looked down at it, she began to look very sad, as she continued her explanation. "I'm not exactly sure what this crystal is, but I think its what brought that dragon back to life and gave it all its power. This might sound hard to believe, but I was able to hear lots of different voices and emotions from multiple different dragons, even from the outside of the dragon's body, and I can still hear them coming from this crystal even now. So many, and their all filled with anger and sadness."

Me and Roxanne looked at the crystal in Plum's claws, unable to hear a thing from it, but we trusted Plum's word, knowing that she never would've done what she did unless her explanation was true. "How interesting. So that's why it stopped moving when it did. That must've been when you pulled this crystal out of the inside of its body. That could also explain why I couldn't make out its status bars. The corpse was moving because of the will of so many different dragons. Of course that's just a theory." I commented, then turned my gaze back to Plum, seeing the sadness in her eyes. "So what are you gonna do with the crystal Plum? Its your call. You deserve it."

Plum looked up from the crystal, and gave me and Roxanne a small smile, very grateful to hear that from me. "Thank you lord Damian." She then looked back down at the crystal in her claws, taking a few minutes to listen to the voices she heard coming from it. The voices she was hearing were far from clear, even to a fellow dragon like herself, but perhaps by instinct, Plum knew what to do. But before following her instincts, Plum broke off a small piece of the crystal, and held it out to me with a smile on her face. "Here lord Damian. For your shield. I know you wanted some dragon power for yourself, and while I cant speak for the rest of my kind, I trust you with it."

I was a bit surprised by Plum's gesture at first, but then I returned her smile and accepted it, taking the crystal fragment from her. "Thanks Plum. That means a lot. Now then, lets see what kind of shield this turns into." Starting to get excited, I fed the crystal shard to my shield, then watched as my upgrade tree appeared before my eyes. However, my smile vanished when I saw a question mark symbol appear over the new branch that appeared as a result. A notice then appeared in my field a vision, informing me that my level wasn't yet high enough to equip the shield I just unlocked. "Well that's never happened before, but that just means this new shield must be pretty powerful if its got a level restriction on it." In place of my smile, I gained a grin, thinking about what this new shield is, what it can do, and how powerful Ill be once I'm finally high enough leveled to use it.

Roxanne watched all of this, then turned back to Plum, still looking rather curious herself. "So what are you gonna do with the rest of the crystal Plum? Is there some kind of special...thing you're supposed to do with it as a dragon yourself?" The kitsune asked the dragon, sounding rather clueless about dragon customs and such.

Plum gave Roxanne a quick nod, then locked her eyes back onto the crystal. "I know what I have to do Roxanne, though it may seem a bit odd. But its for my kind." Listening to the voices of the crystal one last time, Plum took a deep breath, then placed the whole crystal into her mouth. She then swallowed it down in one big gulp, and a purple colored light began to shine from her stomach, which quickly spread to the rest of her body. The light lasted for about ten seconds, then slowly faded away, but there didn't seem to be any changes to Plum's body, level, or her stats.

Me and Roxanne were surprised for the umpteenth time that day as soon as we saw Plum swallow the dragon's crystal, and it was Roxanne who ended up questioning Plum on her actions, while I took a mental note of the lack of change in Plum's stats. "Uhhhh...Why did you just do that Plum? What if that crystal is dangerous? I mean, look what it did to that dragon." Roxanne spoke with concern for Plum's well being, gesturing to the dead dragon she got the crystal from to begin with.

"Thank you for worrying about me Roxanne, but its okay. The voices of my fellow dragons told me to do that, and even though their voices were filled with anger and sadness, I didn't sense even a little dishonesty or insincerity from them. I cant hear their voices anymore though, and I still feel like myself. I don't think that crystal did anything at all." Plum answered Roxanne, sounding fairly confused herself, but she didn't seem to regret her actions at all.

As strange as it was, me and Roxanne still trusted Plum's judgement on the matter, and refocused ourselves on the task at hand. "I'm sure the crystal's true purpose will come to light later on. For now, we have to give this dragon a proper burial. I know none of us is in the best shape of our lives after fighting that dragon zombie, but I think it would be in everyone's best interest if we got this done sooner rather then later. Are you girls feelin up to the task?" I asked Roxanne and Plum, not wanting either of them to push themselves too hard, especially after the battle we all just fought. Sadly, since we weren't technically the one's who killed the dragon, none of us gained even a single EXP point for all our hard work, which was a huge let down, at least to me it was.

Roxanne was looking a lot more worn out then Plum was, but despite her obvious level of fatigue, both she and Plum gave me a nod. They both agreed with me, and wanted to finish the job we set out to do, especially Plum.

With that, it was decided. But before anything else, the three of us returned to our carriage, and helped ourselves to some of the medicine and healing potions we had on hand. I insisted on giving Roxanne and Plum their medicine and healing potions myself, with my Book Shield equipped of course. After that, we once again grabbed our tools, and got to work on breaking down and transporting the dragon's corpse to a nice spot where we could bury it. This was done with a fair amount of emotional distress from Plum, but a few reassuring smiles from me and Roxanne was all she needed to move passed it. I even got the dragon scales I wanted to upgrade my armor, with Plum's permission of course. I used my Frozen Pride Shield to keep the scales on ice, preserving them until we could get back to Erhard's shop and have him upgrade my armor.

During the clean up, I also fed a piece of the dragon zombie's rotted flesh to my shield, wondering if it would unlock me anything. And boy did it! That one piece of rotten dragon meat unlocked me a whole new set of shields on my upgrade tree, as I watched them all appear there right before my eyes. I gained the Dragon Zombie Shield, Dragon Zombie Meat Shield, Dragon Zombie Bone Shield, Dragon Zombie Leather Shield, and Dragon Zombie Heart Shield. Additionally, not only did this new set further increase my defense and poison resistance, but they also granted me a brand new skill called Deadly Zombie Breath.

Seeing all of this, I started to grin, as a few sparkles could be seen in my eyes. Even though it nearly killed Roxanne, I was clearly very excited by the thought of getting to use the dragon zombie's poison breath attack for myself, through my shield rather then my own mouth of course. I knew Id have to proceed with caution before using it though. Those thoughts almost made me wanna thank Ren. The key word there being "almost". It would take a lot more then a new set of shields and an awesome new skill to make me forget about all the grief Ren ended up causing me and my party.

It took us nearly a whole day of work, but after several trips back and forth between the mountain and the burial site, the three of us finally managed to give the dragon the burial Plum wanted for it. Since it meant so much to Plum, me and Roxanne decided to make a tombstone for the dragon out of a large rock, which did make our dragon companion happy. Unfortunately, none of us knew the dragon at all, so we were unable to put its name on the tombstone, if it even had one. So instead, Plum carved her thoughts into the stone, doing her best to put her emotions into words.

When Plum was finished, the tombstone read "To my fellow dragon. I'm sorry it came to this. I really wish I could've gotten to know you, or at least that you didn't have to die. I promise Ill make you and the rest of our kind proud. I carry all of your thoughts, emotions, and wishes within me, and Ill put them to good use. Together with my dear companions, lord Damian, and Roxanne. I, Plum, hope that you one day find peace my fellow dragon. Ill never forget you. This I swear."

As we read Plum's words to the departed dragon, we both couldn't help but smile. Neither of us were sure how Plum could convey such emotion to a dragon she only knew as an undead, but then again, neither of us heard what she heard from the crystal.

With that, our mission was complete, and just as dusk began to fall over the mountain no less. Needless to say, we were all exhausted, especially Roxanne, who was really pushed to her limit today. So we returned to our carriage, hooked Plum up to it, then me and Roxanne climbed aboard, I took the reins, and Plum began the trek back down the mountain, bound for the village and a well deserved break for all of us.

X

As soon as we made it back to the village, we decided to get some beds at the local clinic, mostly because I wanted to make absolutely sure that Roxanne and Plum would be okay. Both of them were give some beds, and passed out on them almost immediately, with Plum changing back into her lizardwoman form of course, while I collected our reward from the doctor. I then gave some of it back to him, and told him to make sure that Roxanne and Plum were healthier then when we arrived in his village yesterday. The doctor informed me that he'd do everything in his power to make sure my companions would make a full recovery, and also thanked me for saving his village as well.

Night fell over the village not long after that, but before calling it a night, I decided to try to find more information on the new shield I unlocked during my and my party's battle with the dragon zombie. But much to my confusion, I couldn't find it anywhere on my upgrade tree. _"How odd. Just what was that power? It was incredible, and it felt...right to me, but maybe a little too right." _I thought to myself, then glanced at the sleeping Roxanne and Plum, thinking about what might've happened if Roxanne hadn't stopped me when she did. _"I could've used it to defeat the dragon, but I could've just as easily killed Roxanne, and Plum while she was inside the dragon. I'm sorry girls. I swear, nothing like that will ever happen again. Ill make sure of it."_

Of course neither of them could hear me, but that made no difference to me, as I vowed to master that new shield and its power, and use it to do my job as the shield hero and protect the people and things I cared about. I also made another vow to use that new shield to show the people I hated why they shouldn't mess with me or my companions, as images of Malty, the king, and the three cardinal stooges appeared in my head. _"Just you wait, you sons of bitches. One day, I will make all of you very sorry." _I started to clench my fist as I made that vow, but my grip grew soft then second I turned my attention back to Roxanne and Plum.

I smiled at them, then walked over to their bedsides, and gave each of them a gentle kiss, careful not to disturb their slumber. _"Sleep tight Roxanne. You too Plum. The three of us are stronger then ever now, and we'll continue to get even stronger. As long as we're together, I know we can do great things. And one day, we'll be the ones to turn this world on its head. Everyone everywhere will know our names, and hopefully Ill become someone more befitting of the way you both see me. Until then, thanks for believing in me girls. Love you."_

After that, I started getting ready for bed myself, taking a look out the window in our room as I did. I looked up at the moon and the starry night sky, thinking back to the first day I arrived in this world, and how far I've come since. I then found myself wondering where me, Roxanne, and Plum would end up going from where we were now, what would happen to us as we went, and who we'd meet along the way too. None of it was clear, but three things were for sure.

The three of us would continue to get stronger and stronger. There was no way any of us would ever give up or give in to anyone or anything that came our way. And I couldn't wait to find out what other surprises and adventures this world had in store for us.

**Another day, another disaster caused by the three cardinal stooges, and another victory for Damian, Roxanne, and Plum. Kind of a close call this time though, huh? And what the heck happened to Damian anyway? Well, I think we all know, but our heroes will find out for themselves later on. Until then, plenty more surprises await them down the line. Some good, some not so good, and some that are totally and completely confusing.**

**Rest assured though. All will become clear in time. And during that time, as always, your continued support is greatly appreciate. Thank you all so very much!**

**Now, I'm afraid its time to bid you all farewell again until next time. As it stands, I'm not exactly sure when that'll be, but there definitely will be a next time, so please try not to worry about it too much. Believe me, I'm doin the best I can with my current set of circumstances. So hopefully this chapter has been worth the wait, and the next one will be too.**

**This has been another installment of The Demon Lord of the Shield!**


	11. Ch 10 - Little Sisters

**-Sigh- Hey there everyone. I hope you've all been doing well, and had a better Valentines Day then I did. The day itself wasn't too bad, but my parent's house caught on fire. Thankfully though, no one was hurt, and the damage wasn't too bad. Still a major bummer for Valentines Day of all days, and the clean up has kept us all pretty busy.**

**Anyway, turning to the brighter side of things, Konosuba season 2 was finally dubbed recently. Its about time, am I right? Also, me and my brother saw the new My Hero Academia movie yesterday, and it was awesome! A major step up from the first movie, at least in my opinion.**

**Also, Id like to take this time to give a big thanks to one of my readers for all of their awesome shield and skill ideas for Damian, which I will be putting to good use at various points throughout the future of my fic. 25dmccown1 I thank you very much, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

**Well, that just about covers my major life updates, but I think its about time for the real reason your all here. Please enjoy the following chapter ladies and gentlemen.**

**Just like always, I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or anything associated with it. I only own my OC's. Damian Abyss, Roxanne, Plum, and more to come.**

Chapter 10 - Little Sisters

Since I wanted to make sure that Roxanne, Plum, and myself were all back to perfect health after our fight with the dragon zombie, we ended up staying in the same village we delivered the medicine to for an additional three days. During that time, despite our reasons for sticking around, we didn't slack off. The three of us continued to train our bodies and learn new magic spells every chance we got, while still making sure to get plenty of rest in between training sessions, especially Roxanne, being that she'd gotten the worst of it during the dragon zombie battle. However, this also made her even more determined to raise her level and get stronger then she already was. Of course, the memories of that day were still fresh in her mind, and did very well to motivate her. The instant she thought about that day, and how I lost control when I awakened a new and violent power, the last thing the kitsune wanted was for that to happen again.

So she continued to train as hard as she could, studying every single page of the grimoire we had, and training her body until it felt like her arms and legs were gonna fall off. Naturally, me and Plum started to worry about her a little, and told her to take it easy. Of course, neither of us saw what Roxanne saw that day, so the two of us were more calm about the whole thing. Still, Roxanne responded to our concerns, and toned down her training, but unfortunately, that didn't help to ease her own concerns much. Never the less, the three of us left the village once we were all back to full strength, taking our carriage and all of our goods with us, as we said our goodbyes to the villagers and reminded them about the terms of our agreement. The villagers knew very well what they had to do, and thanked us all once again for saving what was left of their home and its people.

After that, it was right back to work for the three of us. Given our recent battles against the plant monster and the dragon zombie, we all agreed that the next job we decide to take should be a relatively easy one, as well as one that'll still grant us some experience points, since we didn't end up getting any from the undead dragon. So, once we made it back to the merchant's guild, we had a look at all the quests they had available, and accepted a pretty easy sounding quest that involved clearing monsters off of a mountain road. With that, we found the location of the mountain road in question on our map, informed Hickwaal that we were taking the quest, then the three of us were back on the road once again.

It didn't take us very long to reach the location on the map, and even less time for the monsters we set out to slay to attack us. Fortunately, compared to our last two major battles, these particular monsters were nothing more then small fries to us.

The second Plum came to a stop, I jumped off the carriage, and grabbed the attention of nearly every monster that appeared to face us. I equipped my Frozen Pride Shield, and prepared myself for battle, standing my ground and refusing to let a single monster get passed me, as I waited for my companions to join me.

Fortunately for me, they weren't far behind. Roxanne unhooked Plum from the carriage, and once they were both clear, Plum used her earth magic to raise four large stone walls all around our carriage. Partly to keep it safe from the monsters, and partly to make sure it didn't end up rolling back down the mountain while we fought.

Once their prep work was complete, the kitsune and the dragon rushed to my sides, killing a few monsters on their way over to me with ease. This time around, the monsters in question were all just bee and lizard type monsters. Easy pickings for a trio like us, especially compared to everything we'd faced prior to them.

"Exactly like we figured. Far too easy. Lets wrap this up quickly girls! Ice Needles!" I remarked with a grin, feeling rather confident, as I plunged the top of my shield into the ground in front of me, and cast my spell. My shield gave off a glow, then not even two seconds later, dozens of large needles made of ice shot up from the ground directly beneath a fairly large number of monsters, skewering and killing them all.

"Exactly what I was thinking lord Damian. Now Fox Robe!" Roxanne agrees with me, then casts a new spell on herself. Once it takes full effect, Roxanne's sword, and her entire body is covered from head to toe in blue flames. However, the flames caused absolutely no harm to Roxanne, her weapon, her armor, or her clothes. They certainly caused a lot of harm to the monsters though, as Roxanne jumped and ran around the area, cutting down foes with her blazing sword, or slamming them with her flaming tails.

"Watch yourselves lord Damian, Roxanne! Ill finish them all off in one attack! Rock Roller!" After giving me and Roxanne a warning, and getting herself in position, Plum began her own attack. Her body filled with magic, she started to run around in a circle, until a huge boulder formed. She then smacked the boulder with her tail, and it rolled right down the mountain road, crushing every single monster that was left alive.

Me and Roxanne made sure to heed Plum's warning and get out of the way of her boulder before it hit us too, and Plum made sure to pushed her boulder over a cliff and off the mountain road when her attack was over, just to make sure it wouldn't cause anymore trouble later. And just like that, the battle was over, in just under five minutes. I returned my shield to its normal form, Roxanne put out the flames surrounding her body and put her sword away, and Plum snacked on a few of the dead lizard monsters.

Though the battle wasn't very long, it did give us a pretty decent amount of experience points. I grew to level 39, while both Roxanne and Plum made it to level 40. Then, as with levels 10, 20, and 30, Roxanne grew yet another tail, giving her a new total of five tails.

Naturally, this made Roxanne very happy, and also very surprised, as she quickly discovered the magical bonus that her fifth tail brought with it. "Yes! Five down, four to go! Lord Damian, Plum, check it out! I got my-" Roxanne's excitement suddenly turned into a mixture of shock and confusion, as a strong gust of wind blew from her the second she turned to face me and Plum.

The two of us were caught off guard by this, but just barely managed to dig in our heels, hold our ground, and avoid getting blown off the side of the mountain road we stood on. Both of us then looked at Roxanne once it was over, knowing that what just happened wasn't just a random gust of wind. "Roxanne...was that...?" Plum questioned, having seen it, but was still working on believing it.

As for me, I opened up my status screen, and confirmed our suspicions right away. A notice appeared in my field of vision, informing me that Roxanne's fifth tail had given her an affinity for wind magic. "Yup. Wind magic. Roxanne's last three tails all gave her boosts to her stats, but this one added a whole new type of magic to her arsenal. Roxanne, I had no idea your tails could do that." I explained to my companions, sounding very amazed and impressed by Roxanne's development.

"Neither did I." Roxanne was still trying to process the appearance of her new magical affinity, and straight away, it made her think of her sister at arms, Sasha. Sasha's magical affinity was wind as well, and now that Roxanne had it herself, she felt like it was a sign. Not that she needed it, but Roxanne now had far more wind in her sails. Literally. The kitsune took a deep breath, focused her new power, and was able to create a small tornado in the palm of her hand. "Sasha...I swear Ill find and save you, my dear sister." Roxanne declared, looking down at the small gathering of wind magic in her palm.

Roxanne's words, combined with her demonstration, were more then enough to make me and Plum smile at her. "We'll find and save her Roxanne. Never forget that you've always got us, and we'll always stand by you. Any friend of yours, is a friend of ours." Plum said to her friend, always ready, willing, and able to lend a helping claw to those close to her.

"Heck yeah! And on that note, I think its about time we headed back to Melromarc. There's only one person who can tell us where Sasha is now, and we've put off seeing him long enough. The slave trader, Beloukas. Besides, we still don't know when the next wave is gonna be, and there's only one way to figure that out too. So, as much as I really don't wanna go back to that city of idiots, we kinda have to right now." I added, not particularly thrilled about having to go back to that city, but finding Sasha was incredibly important to Roxanne. I may have been a demon lord, but if there was one thing I absolutely didn't do, it was disappoint my dear companions.

Upon hearing this, Roxanne looked back at me and Plum, gave us a nod and a smile, and made the small tornado vanish from her palm. "Thank you lord Damian. You too Plum. I don't like Melromarc any more then you do, but Ill do anything to see Sasha again. So lets go. The sooner we can get to her, the better."

I returned Roxanne's nod, as Plum lowered her stone walls surrounding our carriage. Me and Roxanne then hooked Plum back up to it, climbed aboard, and off we went, bound for Melromarc.

X

After leaving the mountain we were sent to, the three of us made a quick stop at the merchant's guild to collect the reward for the quest we just completed. Once we had our money, it was right back on the road to Melromarc for us.

The first two hours of the trip were pretty uneventful, as we all kind of did our own things during that time.

Plum was once again pulling the carriage, and humming a gentle melody to herself, which added a rather nice atmosphere to the ride. Roxanne was in the back of our carriage, reading through our magic grimoire, mainly the pages about wind magic. And I was sitting at the front of our carriage, holding the reins, and reading our map, making sure that we were going the right way. During that time, neither me nor Plum said a word, not wanting to interrupt Roxanne's studies, especially since we both knew how much her new wind magic meant to her.

I took advantage of a few moments of silence to look over my status screen one more time, remembering that I saw something out of place a little after Roxanne and Plum reached level 40. The very second I opened my status screen, I found what I was looking for. Next to Roxanne and Plum's names and status bars, I saw two gold star symbols. I narrowed my eyes at them, having never seen them before, as I instantly found myself wondering what they meant. I tried to get more info, but my status screen wouldn't tell me anything about them for some reason. After about five minutes of trying, I mentally sighed in defeat, and pushed those thoughts aside for the time being, much like my status screen itself. I knew Id have to ask someone like Erhard about those stars when I got the chance, but I wasn't worried about them. When were two gold stars ever a bad thing?

Suddenly, both my and Roxanne's trains of thought were interrupted, as Plum came to a complete stop without any sort of warning. Both of us came back to reality, and turned towards Plum, looking at her with confusion in our eyes. "Plum, what's up? Why'd ya stop?" I asked her, guessing that she must've sensed someone or something close by.

And I was right. Before answering me, Plum turned her gaze to the right side of the road we were on, and proceeded to look through the trees that were there. "I'm sorry lord Damian, Roxanne, but there's someone there, and their not alone."

Listening to Plum's words, me and Roxanne quickly turned to the right as well, and were able to see that through the trees was a fairly large open field. Additionally, we could just barely make out several moving shapes and colors mixed in with the green grass. And now that Plum had stopped her humming, we could also hear a voice and some chirping sounds as well.

None of us were sure what to make of any of the things we were seeing and hearing, but after giving it some thought, I decided that we could spare a few minutes to check it out. "Hmmm...This could be interesting. Lets go see what's goin on over there."

With that, me and Roxanne climbed out of the carriage, unhooked Plum from it, then the three of us made our way through the trees, wondering what we were about to see. As soon as we made it to the field on the other side, we were finally able to see what Plum's senses had picked up on. We were all a little surprised by it at first, having never seen anything quite like it before.

What we'd stumbled upon was a group of five different colored filolials, and in the middle of them all was a single human girl. She couldn't have been older then ten, yet she seemed very happy and peaceful, sitting in the middle of a group of wild monsters.

"Its a girl. A human girl." Roxanne commented in a quiet tone, then all three of us took a few more steps towards the girl and her flock of bird type monsters.

Unfortunately, that's when those same birds finally took notice of us. The second they saw Plum, a dragon, their natural enemy, and a strong looking one at that, all five filolials immediately got to their feet and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction, leaving behind a few feathers in their wake.

All of this startled the human girl, as she covered her eyes with her arms when her feathered friends ran off. Once the wind around her died down, she uncovered her eyes, and watched the flock of filolials leave, looking a little saddened by their rather sudden departure.

This reaction caused Plum to tilt her head in her usual confused manner, with a tone to match. "Was it something we said? Why'd they run away?"

Hearing this, me and Roxanne both turned toward Plum, a little surprised that she didn't know the answer to her own question. "Well, dragons and filolials are natural enemies Plum, and you're a lot bigger and stronger then those filolials were. I'm guessing whenever a filolial sees a dragon, its natural reaction is to either fight or run, depending on how big and strong the dragon in question is." I tried explaining all of this to Plum as best as I could. I still wasn't totally sure how the creatures of this world operated just yet, but I imagined it was still fairly close to how animals back in my home world did things.

Plum looked down at me, listened, and nodded, but still looked a little confused about something. "But why? I wouldn't have hurt them. I don't understand why dragons and filolials don't get along at all."

Sadly, neither me nor Roxanne had an answer to that question. Neither of us knew for sure why dragons and filolials were mortal enemies either. I guessed that it had something to do with the fact that the queen of the filolials slayed the dragon emperor hundreds of years ago, calling to mind the story Beloukas told us a little after Plum gained her lizardwoman form, but I figured there had to be more to it then that.

"Pardon me." My train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a new voice, and me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned to see that it belonged to the girl who was in the middle of the filolials that just ran off. While we were talking, she turned toward us, and took a few steps toward us as well.

All three of us immediately directed our attention toward her, not seeing much emotion on her face at first. It was easy for us to see that she was a human, and normally that would be a red flag for me and Roxanne, but this human was different. For one thing, unlike all the horrible, pain in the ass humans we'd dealt with up to this point, she was just a kid. And for another thing, neither of us had ever seen a human look so friendly with a pack of monsters. Yes, plenty of humans had filolials of their own, but they only used them for manual labor, never really bothering to try bonding with them on a deeper emotional level.

That said, neither of us were ready to lower our guards just yet. Still, the girl did kind of start a conversation with us, so I cleared my throat, then offered her a response. "Hey there. Sorry we scared off your friends, but what's a kid like you doing out here by herself anyway? The nearest town is at least another hour away from here, and the sun will be setting pretty soon."

The girl gave me a friendly smile as she responded, not sounding upset about the whole thing at all. "Oh, please don't worry about it. Its fine. I really shouldn't be out here anyway. You see, I was traveling with some knights, on my way to the royal capital, but then I saw that group of beautiful filolials and I just couldn't help myself. I snuck away to play with them, and ended up losing track of time. I just love filolials so much! Their soft feathers, their adorable faces, and pretty much everything else about them!" She started blushing and kind of fangirling out near the end of her explanation, but she was quick to regain her focus, snapping out of her little filolial fantasy world.

All three of us listened to her, and it was easy for us to see that this girl's love for filolials was completely genuine. While most people might find that odd, me and Roxanne found that to be rather refreshing. Granted, we may not have had a filolial in our party, and with Plum already in our party, our chances of getting one were very slim, but anything that wasn't a human was still a winner in our eyes.

I gave the girl a nod, then decided to finally give her some introductions. "I see. Well, no one understands loving non-human races more then I do. Trust me on that one. Anyway, you can call me Damian. I'm a demon lord, traveling merchant, healer, and warrior for hire. These are my companions." I said to her, gesturing to my two companions at my side.

"My names Roxanne. I'm lord Damian's sword." Roxanne kept her introduction short and simple, still not fully sure that she could trust the human girl that stood before her.

On the other hand, or claw in this case, Plum gave the girl a friendly smile, sounding happy to be meeting her. "And I'm Plum. Its nice to meet you."

"I'm Melty. Its nice to meet you all as well." The girl responded with an introduction of her own, but then looked at me with some confusion on her face. "Are you really a demon lord? I've never even met a normal demon, but you don't seem like the demon lords I've heard about in stories that my mother has told me."

In response to her question, I started to grin, and struck my demon lord pose for her. "I assure you, my identity as a demon lord is very real. I wouldn't expect such a young human to fully comprehend my powers anyway. You're not the first human to ask me that, and I'm sure you wont be the last either."

My performance only made Melty even more confused, but she thought it best not to ask anymore demon lord related questions. Be that as it may, she wasn't fully convinced, but she also didn't wish to be rude, so she just gave me a reply, accompanied by a small smile. "Uhhh...Okay. What ever you say. Anyway, if its not too much to ask, could I trouble you all for a ride to the nearest town please? I'm sure my knights are waiting there for me now, and are worried sick. My father can pay you for your services if you like." She asked us in a calm, cool, collected, and very respectful tone, then waited for our response.

I quickly ended my pose, then thought about her request for a moment before responding to her. "Hmmm...Could you give us a moment please?" I asked her, then turned to Roxanne and Plum, gesturing for them to come closer to me.

The two of them understood what I wanted, and stepped closer to me. The three of us were pretty much huddled together after that, and started whispering to each other so Melty couldn't hear us.

"Oh, of course. Please take your time." Melty said to us, then fell silent, as she waited patiently for us to finish our discussion.

"I know we don't usually accept jobs like this one, and she is a human, but I don't know. She's...different." I was having a hard time putting it into words, as I heard my father's advice playing through my head once more. He said that Id find good humans in the world, and while I've had more then my fair share of doubts, and this isn't the world he was talking about, I was starting to think he was right, and that Melty was at least worthy of the benefit of the doubt if nothing else.

Roxanne nodded in agreement at my words, sharing my feelings on the matter. "I know what you mean lord Damian. I feel it too. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but Melty is clearly different from most of the humans we've met up to now. Besides, just look at her. With clothes like that, she has to be some noble's daughter. Even if she does end up on our bad side, we should still be able to get a pretty decent reward for bringing her back to where ever she came from."

"I'm not sensing any negative emotions from her, so I think she's a good person. Also, most people are surprised to hear me talk for the first time, but Melty doesn't seem bothered or surprised at all to see a talking dragon. Its kind of nice to meet a human who isn't weirded out by me for a change." Plum added with another smile, totally on board with the idea of having Melty along for the ride for a bit.

It seemed that we were all in agreement, so we separated, and turned back to Melty. "Alright Melty, you can come along with us. For now." I said to her, but still didn't lower my guard completely. Me and my party may have agreed to give her a ride, but like all humans we've associated with in the past, I wasn't just gonna give her my full trust just like that.

Hearing this, Melty smiled at us once more, and was quick to run over to us. "Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it. Ill see to it that you're graciously compensated for your services, I promise." She gave us a bow of gratitude, then the three of us showed her to our carriage.

Once we made it back to the carriage, me and Roxanne hooked Plum back up to it, then the rest of us climbed into the back. I sat up front, pulled out the map, and grabbed the reins once again, then off we went.

Almost immediately, Roxanne went straight back to studying wind magic in the back, and Plum resumed humming her gentle melody. Not wanting to disturb Roxanne's studying, Melty ended up sitting next to me up front, which was kind of a surprise to me, but she seemed to be enjoying Plum's humming, so I didn't object.

Additionally, I didn't notice it myself, but a small smile appeared on my face at one point during the trip. Roxanne and Plum sure noticed though, and found themselves smiling too, happy to see me happy, even if only for a moment.

X

As soon as we arrived in the next town, we started looking for Melty's body guards right away, but they were nowhere to be found. We asked around, and the villagers we talked to told us that a group of knights passed through their small town several hours before we arrived, but didn't bother stopping for even a second.

Me and Roxanne found this to be very odd, and came to two possible conclusions, discussing them between ourselves while Plum kept an eye on Melty. One, the knights didn't notice that Melty was missing, and wanted to get back to the royal capital as quickly as possible. Or two, they did notice that Melty was missing, but didn't bother sending out a search party for her, and chose to leave her to die. If the latter was the case, that meant someone in Melromarc was out for Melty's life for some reason, but neither of us had any idea why that would be. However, in the end, me and Roxanne only bothered pondering this for about five minutes. At the end of the day, Melty was still a human, and therefore, none of our concern.

However, contrary to that statement, the villagers we spoke to also asked for our help in curing the large number of sick people in their village. They'd heard the stories, and seeing Plum talking with Melty was all the confirmation they needed to deduce that I was the one and only demon lord of the earth dragon.

Naturally, me and my companions agreed to cure their sick and injured villagers, in exchange for our usual fee of course. Which was as much money, food, or supplies they could spare, and to pledge their eternal loyalty and support to me. The demon lord, Damian Abyss.

Like all the other humans we'd crossed paths with up to that point, the villagers agreed to our terms, then lead me and my party to their local hospital. From there, we did what we always did. I equipped my Book Shield, then headed up to where the sick villagers were being kept. At the same time, Plum changed into her lizardwoman form, much to Melty's surprise, then she and Roxanne started carrying me up all the medicine and supplies they knew Id need to cure the sick villagers.

Once the surprise of seeing Plum's transformation wore off, Melty volunteered to do anything she could to help us out. The three of us accepted her offer, and put her to work helping Roxanne and Plum carry supplies to me. We all agreed not to make her carry anything heavy though. Melty was at level 42, which was impressive for her age, but she was still just a kid.

In any case, I worked my magic on every last sick villager, curing every last one of them completely. With that, the villagers expressed their most sincere gratitude toward me and my party for our help, fulfilling the payment I asked of them without question. This time, the payment we received was a bag filled with all kinds of crops, an assortment of spices, and of course, yet another village flying the flag of the demon lord, Damian Abyss.

By the time we had settled all of these matters, night had fallen over the land, so me, Roxanne, and Plum all worked together to carry our rewards, and what was left of our medical supplies back down to our carriage. Melty was once again kind enough to offer her assistance to us as well, and seemed to be rather deep in thought the whole time for some reason.

After everything was put away, Melty asked us to once again lend her our attention. The three of us complied with her request, and turned to her, waiting to hear what she had to say. "That was amazing. What you did in there, for those people I mean." The blue haired girl said to me, having heard quite a few stories herself, which lead her to a single conclusion. "Tell me, you're the demon lord of the earth dragon I've been hearing about, aren't you?"

"How many other demon lords with talking, transforming dragons do you know Melty?" I answered her question with a rhetorical question, a small grin present on my face as I did so.

"Yes. I suppose that's a good point. That makes this a little bit easier then." Now that she had her answer, Melty started to grip the front of her dress, getting a nervous look on her face, as she glanced away from us slightly. "I know that I only asked you to take me this far, and I really do hate to ask more of you, but seeing as how you've done so many wonderful favors for so many people, do you think I could travel with you all for just a little while longer? I'm not sure what's happened to my knights, where they are, or why they haven't come looking for me yet, but please demon lord Damian Abyss, do you think you could find it in your heart to take me to the royal capital?" The young girl spoke to me in a nervous, yet gracious and pleading tone, bowing her head to me once more.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all continued to look at her, and listen to her request. It didn't happen until that moment, but the more Melty spoke, the more several memories from my past in my home world began to surface in my mind. This surprised even me a little. Mainly because these particular memories weren't bad ones at all.

About a minute after that, Melty raised her head to look at me again, and continued to plead with me for our assistance. "I realize that its selfish of me to ask more of you, but you see, I just...I just have to return to the capital right away! I beg you!"

_"On the one hand, if she really is a nobleman's daughter, we could make a lot of money. On the other hand, given my reputation in the capital, her father will probably end up thinking that I did something vile to his daughter during the trip, which would cause even more problems for me, Roxanne, and Plum." _I thought to myself, weighing the pros and cons to helping Melty in my head. I kept my eyes on Melty the entire time I did this, and as I did, even more of those good memories surfaced in my head. And just for a moment, I saw the face of my younger sister over Melty's face. It was from when she was Melty's age though. _"Julie..."_

I ended up getting lost in thought for a few minutes, and this caused Roxanne and Plum to look at me with a mixture of confusion and concern on their faces. "Lord Damian, are you okay?" Roxanne was the first one of the two of them to speak up, hoping that what ever I was thinking about wasn't anything bad.

"Is something wrong?" Plum questioned me as well, sensing some new emotions coming from me. She'd never sensed anything like them before, so she wasn't sure what to make of them at all.

The sounds of their voices caused me to snap out of my flashbacks and come back to the present, as I gave my head a few good shakes, and the image of my younger sister vanished from Melty's face. Still, it did its job, as I let out a single sigh before finally giving Melty my answer. "Alright, you can tag along. We were heading back to the capital anyway. But since you know the stories about me, then you also know that my and my companion's services aren't free."

The second she heard my answer, a big smile appeared on Melty's face, her gaze still aimed directly at me. "Of course! Its no trouble at all! As I said before, my father will be glad to pay you any amount you wish!"

After that, the four of us decided to spend the night in the village we stood in, since it was already so late and all, then head for Melromarc first thing in the morning. We made sure our carriage was secure, then got ourselves a room at a local inn, one with enough beds for all four of us. Given that we helped so many people, the inn keeper was more then happy to give us the room for free for the night, with a free dinner included too.

Once we were done eating, me, Roxanne, and Plum all did out nightly work out session. As we did, Melty watched us with intrigue, having never seen our style of training before in her life. As soon as we were done, it was off to bed for all four of us, as we all claimed our bed of choice, and Roxanne used her newly acquired wind magic to blow out the candle in our room.

However, before falling asleep, both Roxanne and Plum couldn't help pondering my surprising level of willingness to help Melty. They'd never seen me agree to help any human so easily before, and it made them both wonder what was the cause of my rather sudden attitude change. Why Melty of all humans? Both of them knew that Melty was different from most of the other humans they'd crossed paths with, but the two of them knew me well enough to know that this was definitely something more.

Additionally, known of had any idea, but a lone, shadowy figure was watching us from just outside the one and only window in our room. The figure continued to watch us until we all fell asleep, then disappeared into the darkness of the night, never making even a small sound.

X

The following morning, after some breakfast, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty were back on the road to Melromarc, after saying our goodbyes to the people of the village we'd spent the night in of course. Based on what our map said, it would take us roughly another day and a half to reach the city of Melromarc, so we all agreed not to waste any time. Still, since our voyage was shaping up to be a long one, we all still did our own various activities to pass the time.

Plum went straight back to humming her own little tune, and Melty ended up joining her this time around. When the two of them weren't humming their gentle melody, they were talking to each other, sharing some stories. Me and Roxanne couldn't help smiling at the two of them, happy to see that Plum had made herself a friend, even if that friend was a human.

As for the two of us, Roxanne stuck her face right back into our magic grimoire, continuing her studies on all things wind magic related. And when I wasn't reading the map and giving Plum directions, I was deep in thought, as I found myself thinking back to my childhood, which unlike most people would expect, wasn't a bad thing. Additionally, Plum and Melty's humming was very relaxing for both me and Roxanne, and added a very nice background to our own activities.

We continued to head toward Melromarc for hours without stopping, but as the sun began to set over the land, we all decided to find a place to make camp for the night. Fortunately, we happened upon a fairly nice looking spot not long after that, with a large, open field, a decent sized river running through, and a few trees and bushes around a smaller area that looked like a good spot to make a campfire. So, without a moment of hesitation, the four of us parked the carriage on the side of the road, disembarked, and got straight to work on the preparations for dinner.

Still in her dragon form, Plum caught and killed a few deer type monsters for us, bringing them back to our campsite mostly in tact. I grabbed my new fishing rod, and was able to catch us a few nice sized fish from the river. Melty gathered us plenty of fire wood, then offered to help Roxanne prepare our meal. Roxanne used her fire magic to get the campfire going, then grabbed an assortment of vegetables and spices from the carriage, and with Melty's help, cut up and cooked all the food.

Working together, the four of us were able to make a rather impressive looking meal. A meal that made me and Plum drool a little bit, which made Roxanne and Melty laugh at us a little as well. This ended up surprising Roxanne a little, as she stopped laughing, and glanced at Melty, finally noticing that despite being a human, Melty was fitting in with our little crew surprisingly well. Roxanne didn't think that it was an act, and the kitsune was beginning to feel a bit conflicted. On the one hand, Melty was still a human, and most of Roxanne's past experiences with humans were anything but pleasant. But on the other hand, Melty didn't seem to be like most other humans, and for our own separate reasons, both me and Plum seemed to be slowly but surely warming up to her as well, though Roxanne still had no idea what mine could be.

Be that as it may, Roxanne pushed those thoughts aside for the time being, as we all sat around the fire and started eating. Plum changed back into her lizardwoman form, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our dinner, as Roxanne made sure that each of us had enough to eat. We all finished eating just as night fell over the land, so I threw some more wood on the fire to keep it going a while longer.

After putting the dishes away, all four of us sat around the fire again, and silence ended up falling over our group for about twenty minutes, as each of us kind of ended up getting lost in our own little worlds during that time. Since no one else had done so, Roxanne decided to speak up, and take this opportunity to finally ask Melty a question that had been weighing on her mind since we met the child. "Hey Melty, I noticed you've been getting along with Plum fairly well, but you seem to possess a great deal of love for filolials. So I'm a little confused. Since you love filolials so much, you must know about their long standing rivalry with dragons, so doesn't it bother you at all that Plum's a dragon?"

Given the silence that came before it, I couldn't help overhearing Roxanne's question. I had to admit, that very same question did come up in my mind a few times since we met Melty too. So once Roxanne had finished speaking, I turned toward Melty, a good amount of curiosity present on my face as I waited for the blue haired girl to answer.

Before answering, Melty looked back at Roxanne, and shook her head from side to side a few times. "No. Of course not. I admit, I don't love dragons anywhere near as much as I love filolials, but I certainly don't hate dragons or anything. Not at all. Growing up, my mother always taught me to respect and care for all forms of life, at least until they give me a reason not to. And Plum hasn't given me any sort of reason not to show kindness to her. She's a good dragon. It only makes sense, seeing as how she was raised by a pair of good people like yourselves." The girl spoke without even a single hint of ill will or doubt in her voice, then gave us a friendly smile after she was done speaking.

As we listened to Melty's words, and looked at her smiling face, both me and Roxanne were a bit surprised by her answer. In a good way of course. Yes, the thought that Melty might be lying did cross our minds, but after taking a moment to think back on everything Melty had said and done since we met her, our suspicions were slowly starting to fade away. It was clear that many people, especially nobles and above held some very strong prejudice against anything that could talk and wasn't human, and Melty seemed to be from Melromarc herself, but she didn't strike us as that kind of person at all. Someone like Aultcray or Malty for example, wouldn't sneak away from their body guards to go play with filolials, nor would they spend hours traveling with a demon lord, a kitsune, and a talking dragon. Besides, if Melty was even a little like them, surely Plum's emotion sensing abilities would've picked up on it at some point while they were talking during our time on the road.

At least those were my and Roxanne's thoughts on the matter.

It was then that my father's advice about finding the good people in the world played back in my head, and part of me began to think that Melty may very well be one of those good people. Also, the more I looked at Melty, the more memories from my childhood and my little sister flooded my mind.

As silence began to fall over all of us yet again, Melty lost her smile, in favor of a more confused facial expression. "What's wrong? Did I say something that was strange to either of you?"

Thankfully, the sound of Melty's voice was enough to bring me and Roxanne back to reality, as I shook my head a few times before responding to her questions. "Oh, no. Everything's fine, right Plum? Melty's attitude towards dragons has gotta make you happy, right?" I quickly attempted to change the subject, but was puzzled when I didn't receive an answer from Plum. "Plum, you still awake?" I turned in Plum's direction, but was greeted by a sight that I wasn't expecting for even a second. I couldn't help letting out a fairly loud gasp, as my eyes grew very wide, and nearly my entire face turned red. "Gah! Your naked again?!"

Indeed. Sitting on one of the logs around our fire, Plum had taken off every last piece of her clothing, and didn't look even the slightest bit embarrassed by it. I didn't notice right away, but it looked like she was shedding her skin, peeling the old pieces of skin off of her body in small to larger sized pieces. She'd been so quiet this whole time that none of us noticed what she was doing at all, and yes, Id seen her in her naked in her lizardwoman form several times before tonight. I just wasn't expecting to see it again here and now of all places and times, which is the main reason I was so shocked.

Upon hearing my rather sudden outburst, both Roxanne and Melty turned their heads as well, unable to stop themselves. The second they saw what I was seeing, they both had reactions that were very similar to the one I had when I saw it.

Fortunately, Roxanne shook off her shock extremely quickly, then proceeded to spring into action. Thinking fast, the albino kitsune wrapped two of her five tails around my and Melty's heads, blocking our vision completely. Once that was done, she turned toward Plum, and started questioning her reptilian teammate right away. "Seriously Plum?! Do you really have to be doing that right now?! Why didn't you say anything or at least go behind a tree, or change back into your dragon form?! There's a child here!"

Plum looked up from her own body just as she was peeling off yet another piece of old skin, then turned to look back at Roxanne, seeing what she was doing to me and Melty. "Oh, I'm sorry everyone. I didn't wanna worry any of you, but I've been feeling weird since I woke up this morning. I had no idea it was something like this though. Anyway, my arms are too small to reach every part of my body when I'm in my dragon form, and using my teeth isn't nearly as effective as using my claws. So I stayed in this form, but then my clothes were in the way. I figured it would be okay to take them off since lord Damian has already seen me naked, and Melty is a girl, just like me."

Both me and Roxanne already knew very well that the word "embarrassment" didn't exist in Plum's dictionary, but the part that surprised and confused us was the fact that Plum was shedding her skin. We've known her since the moment she hatched, and neither of us had ever seen her do anything like that before.

Roxanne regained her composure and cleared her throat before responding to Plum's words, but refused to release me and Melty from her hold on us just yet. "I guess its okay Plum, but why is this happening to you now of all times? Do you have any idea?"

Plum continued to peel off pieces of her skin, and shrugged her shoulders at Roxanne's questions. "I'm not sure. It doesn't hurt or anything, but I'm just as confused as you are."

After giving it some thought, I was only able to come up with one possible answer. "It might be a result of that crystal Plum swallowed after we defeated that dragon zombie. It seemed like a pretty important, dragon related item. Back in my home world, all reptiles shed their skin when they go through a growth spurt, but Plum's grown a lot since she hatched, and this has never happened to her even once. So maybe when a dragon sheds their skin, its for a different reason."

"My mother has taught me a lot about our world, and the creatures in it, but there is still a lot we don't know about some creatures. So Damian's thought is entirely possible, but there's no way of knowing what could happen to Plum as a result of this shedding. I think it'll be interesting to find out though. Please be sure to let me know as soon as you notice any further changes, okay?" Melty asked, adding some of her own thoughts into the conversation.

"Sure Melty. Roxanne, can I please have my eyes back now? I promise I wont stare at Plum...much." I asked Roxanne, saying that last part quietly to myself, unable to help myself very much, but was willing to at least try, especially since I knew about Roxanne's jealousy towards Plum.

Roxanne had her eyes narrowed at me for a moment, but she ended up letting out a sigh, then releasing me from her tail's hold. "Fine, but I still feel like a young girl like Melty shouldn't be seeing this sort of thing."

"Its fine. I don't mind. Besides, your tail is really soft and warm Roxanne." Melty said with a smile on her face, gently petting the tail that was still covering her eyes.

As soon as she heard and felt this, Roxanne instantly started blushing a little, unable to keep her other four tails from swaying back and forth. "Well...thank you Melty."

Plum could sense Roxanne's mood change right away, as she and I both looked over at our dear companion, and smiled at her, knowing very well what this reaction meant. After that, I did my best to keep my gaze off of Plum's body, while Plum went back to peeling off pieces of her old skin.

Before any of us knew it, a whole hour had gone by. During that time, me, Roxanne, and Plum all did our nightly exercise routine yet again. Of course, since Plum was still shedding her skin, she mostly sat this one out. Not that it mattered much, being that she was still the physically strongest member of our party. Melty was once again fascinated by it, and I ended up convincing her to sit on my back while I did push ups. Not long after we'd finished, Melty was fast asleep, tucked into a makeshift bed we made for her out of a pillow and some sheets. Plum had also finished shedding her skin, got dressed, and then transformed back into her dragon form for the night.

I volunteered to take the first watch for the night, and told Roxanne and Plum that they too could get some sleep if they wanted. But before calling it a night, they both had something to ask me. "Hey, lord Damian, how come you've been so kind and accepting towards Melty? I mean, yes, she's different from most humans we know, and she's been fitting in surprisingly well with us, but it seems like there's more to it then that." Roxanne questioned me, having never seen me warm up to any human this fast.

"I have to admit, I've been curious about that too lord Damian. I've been sensing some kind of emotions from you since last night that I cant seem to place. Could you fill us in please?" Plum added, feeling just as curious, and a little bit concerned as Roxanne was.

After listening to both of their questions, I let out a sigh of my own, turning my gaze towards the ever burning fire as I spoke. "Okay, this might sound a little weird, but the truth is...Melty reminds me a lot of my little sister, Julie."

Neither of them were expecting an answer like that, and it made them both far more curious then they already were. "Your sister? But I thought you weren't on good terms with your family before you came to this world lord Damian." Plum said to me, remembering every story I've told her and Roxanne about my life before this world.

Still, that didn't mean I told them everything. "Well yeah, I wasn't on the best of terms with my family before being summoned to this world, but believe it or not, back when me and my three younger siblings were kids, we were actually the best of friends." A warm smile appeared on my face, as I began my explanation, letting the fond memories of my childhood flow through my mind. "Me, Alex, Julie, and Andrew. The four of us were inseparable. We ate together, we played games together, we even made our own adventures together. Sadly, once we all got older, we ended up drifting apart. Spending time with other people, exploring new hobbies, thinking about our futures." I knew that not all of those reasons applied to me, but I wasn't talking about myself to begin with.

Roxanne and Plum listened intently to me, starting to understand. "So then, Melty reminds you of how your sister used to be back in the good old days. Is that right lord Damian?" Roxanne asked me, as she and Plum took every chance they could to move closer to me.

I didn't notice their movements right away, too lost in my own memories, while my eyes remained on the fire. Still, I gave Roxanne a nod before speaking up again. "Yup, you got it Roxanne. Truth be told, I really missed those days with my siblings sometimes, and Melty really reminds me of Julie when she was Melty's age. Back then, Julie wore her hair like Melty does, she wore dresses like Melty does, though not as fancy, and she was always kind and caring to others, especially toward animals. Julie loves animals more then anything, exactly like how Melty loves filolials. She's even studying hard to become a vet, a doctor for animals."

As they heard me describe me sister, Roxanne and Plum found themselves glancing at the sleeping Melty, kind of amazed to hear that there was someone who was so much like her in another world. "Wow. Your sister sounds like a really nice person lord Damian." Plum said to me with a smile on her face, turning back to me a little after Roxanne did.

"Yeah, she is. Everyone in my family is. Like I said, we may not have been on the best of terms when I left, but I know they only said the things they did because they cared about me. And Ill tell ya somethin else, I know Julie would've loved meeting you two, and all the other demi-human, beastmen, and even monster races in this world. In fact, maybe if she, Alex, and Andrew had come with me to this world, we could've had another of our adventures, just like when we were kids." I let out another sigh, but didn't lose my smile, perking right back up again almost instantly. "I think its for the best though. The three of them have their own lives to live back in my home world, and I've got my life to live right here. Their where they belong, and I'm where I belong." My smile changed into one of pure joy and happiness, as I turned my gaze up toward the star filled night sky.

Roxanne and Plum both smiled at me too, happy to hear those things from me, moving closer to me with every word I spoke. And before I knew it, they were sitting on either side of me, as Roxanne's tails began to sway back and forth again.

I was a bit surprised by this at first, feeling their bodies suddenly appear on either side of my own, but then I turned my gaze and smile towards them, wrapping one arm around each of them. "Meeting Melty was a surprise, and Ill admit, I have kind of enjoyed having her around, but at the end of the day, there's nothing any human could do that would win me over more then you two already have." I gave each of them a gentle, loving kiss on their lips, then gently rubbed the tops of their heads. "I love you girls. Now go on and get some sleep. Roxanne, you can take over the watch in a few hours. Sound good?"

Both inhuman girls blushed and smiled back at me, then they kissed both of my cheeks at the same time. "Sounds perfect. We love you too lord Damian. And of course, there's no one else we'd ever say or do that to." Roxanne gave me a wink, then got up, walked over to her makeshift bed, and laid down in it, making herself comfortable until it was her time to take over the night watch.

Plum nodded in complete agreement with Roxanne's words, nuzzling her head against mine for a good ten seconds before pulling away. "Roxanne's absolutely right lord Damian. No one could ever take your place in our hearts. Not ever." Plum then walked over to a nice patch of grass, curled up, laid down, and closed her eyes for the night.

All of that was more then enough to keep me going through the night, as I was once again extremely grateful to my companions for their loving words and never ending affections. "Thanks girls. Sleep tight." From then on, I spent the rest of my time as night watchman gathering wood to keep the fire going, keeping my guard up for any wild monsters that might've been lurking about, and thinking back on all the good times I had with my siblings, and with Roxanne and Plum.

X

Me, Plum, and Melty all awoke the following morning to another bright and sunny day, as well as the sights and scents of Roxanne making us breakfast. And once we were done eating, it was back on the road to Melromarc once more for us. Fortunately, we didn't have much further to go at all. In fact, we made such good time yesterday, that it only took us about six more hours to reach our destination.

Of course, me and Roxanne were anything but thrilled to be back in this particular city, but we never planned on staying long to begin with. Our plan was simple. We make sure Melty gets back to her family safely, collect any potential rewards for doing so, pay a visit to Erhard's shop to have him upgrade my armor using the parts we collected from the dragon zombie's corpse and find out what the gold stars next to Roxanne and Plum's status bars mean, swing by Beloukas' tent to find out where Roxanne's long lost sister at arms Sasha is, go see the dragon hourglass to find out when the next wave of catastrophe will be, then get the hell out of Melromarc for good and never return. None of us were sure where we'd go just yet, but me and my companions all agreed that any kingdom had to be better then this one.

So, with all of that in mind, Plum pulled our carriage into the city, while me and Roxanne kept our eyes peeled for any familiar and unpleasant faces. It took us about fifteen minutes, but we managed to find a relatively empty, safe enough looking spot to leave our carriage until it was finally time for us to leave. Once the carriage was safely hidden behind some buildings, me, Roxanne, and Melty disembarked, and unhooked Plum from our mode of transportation. And now that she was once again free to do so, Plum changed back into her lizardwoman form.

"Well then, I really cant thank you all enough for everything you've done for me." Melty said to us in a grateful tone, giving the three of us an equally grateful smile and a bow.

All three of us turned to her, and I took a moment to think about how we should proceed before responding. "Don't mention it Melty. Plum, do you think you can make sure Melty gets home safely and collect the reward from her father?"

Plum smiled and nodded at me right away, very happy to hear that I was putting my trust in her for this job. "Of course lord Damian. Just leave it to me."

I smiled and nodded back at her, feeling confident that Plum would be fine on her own for a short period of time. "Just remember not to talk to any humans besides Melty and her father, okay Plum?"

"Got it. Lead the way Melty." Plum turned her attention to Melty, waiting for the blue haired girl to show her the way to her home.

"Of course Plum. Please follow me." Melty gave Plum a nod, then turned to leave, showing her the way to go. But before the two of them were out of sight, Melty turned back to me and Roxanne, waving to us and giving us one more smile. "Farewell until next time!"

Me and Roxanne waved back to her, continuing to watch until she and Plum were out of our fields of vision. "Do you think Plum will be okay on her own in this city lord Damian? You know what the people here are like." Roxanne asked me in a concerned tone of voice, knowing first hand that the people of Melromarc were anything but kind to any and all inhuman races.

I knew that very well too, and Id be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little worried about Plum, but I also knew that both of my companions were anything but pushovers. "She'll be fine. She should be able to find her way back to us without much difficulty, and even if she runs into trouble, you and I both know that Plum is the strongest living thing in this entire city. Any humans that mess with her are either really cocky or really stupid."

Roxanne started to lay her worries to rest after hearing all of that from me, knowing that I was absolutely correct. "Well, I cant argue with you there lord Damian. So what should we do while we wait for her?"

"Before anything else, lets head over to Beloukas' tent and find out what he knows about Sasha, which I'm guessing is quite a bit." I answered her in a confident tone, feeling good about our chances of getting information on the whereabouts of Roxanne's childhood friend from the local slave trader.

Naturally, Roxanne smiled and nodded at my suggestion right away, very eager to get the information we needed to find and save her dear friend. "Exactly what I was thinking lord Damian. Lets hurry. The sooner we can get to Sasha, the better."

Of course, I was in full agreement with Roxanne on that one. We both knew that where ever Sasha had ended up, it couldn't have been anywhere good. So, not wanting to waste anymore time, I pulled out our map of the city, then the two of us headed for the slave trader's place of business.

X

As we made our way through the streets of Melromarc, me and Roxanne couldn't help feeling like we were in enemy territory, so we were both a little on edge. We had very little doubt that if anyone caused us trouble, we'd be able to fight our way out of it with ease, but that didn't stop it from being a total nuisance. Plus, there were at least two humans in this city that could cause some significantly larger problems for us.

The sack of crap king, and his toxic to the core daughter. Not to mention the three cardinal stooges. Neither of us had any desire to deal with any of them, so we did our best to avoid them like the plague. Fortunately, after ten minutes of walking, we hadn't seen any sign of any of them, but it was far too soon to assume that we were in the clear.

Also, Id noticed that Roxanne's ears had been twitch nonstop, ever since we left our hiding place behind the buildings where we left our carriage. This caused me to raise one eyebrow at her, growing curious. After another five minutes of ear twitching, I decided to ask her what was up. "Hey Roxanne, I get that we're both a little jumpy just being here, but what's up with your ears? Ya hear somethin?"

As she answered me, Roxanne glanced over her shoulder, like she could somehow sense that someone or something was there. "Yes, and I've been sensing some strange magical energy too. Whoever, or what ever it is has been following us since we left the carriage. They've been concealing themselves and their magic power, but it looks like they cant completely hide themselves from a kitsune with five tails. I cant tell where they are exactly, or how many of them there are, but I think its just a small group."

As I listened to Roxanne's explanation, I slowly narrowed my eyes, and glanced over my shoulder as well, wondering who or what was there. I didn't see, hear, or sense a thing myself. But then again, I wasn't a kitsune with five tails, which I knew granted Roxanne an incredible boost to her five senses, as well as her ability to sense magic. "What do ya think we should do Roxanne? I'm open to suggestions."

"Given our reputation, there's a good chance their foes, rather then friends, but we have no way of knowing for sure without Plum. So why don't we try to lose them? Ill use my Hide Mirage skill, then we'll start running, split up, and meet back up later." Roxanne gave me the best idea she could think of. She didn't exactly like the idea of splitting up, but the two of us trusted each other completely, and knew that the other could handle themselves perfectly well in a fight on their own.

After giving it some thought, I gave Roxanne a single nod. "Okay then. Just be careful Roxanne. We don't know what these people might do. Their probably after me, so why don't you go look for Plum? We'll all meet up at Erhard's shop as soon as we can."

Roxanne nodded back at me, but also knew that I wouldn't be able to hear or sense these unknown beings on my own, so she didn't wanna leave me alone for too long. "You be careful too lord Damian. Ill find Plum, then the two of us will meet you at Erhard's shop. Please stay safe until then. Now Hide Mirage." In the blink of an eye, Roxanne was completely invisible. I couldn't see her do so, but she made a quick turn, and ran off down an ally way as fast as her legs could carry her.

As for me, I faced the road in front of me, took a deep breath, then ran down it as fast as I could. Based on what I saw, it was a pretty safe bet that none of the humans in the area could hear or sense the things that Roxanne was hearing and sensing. Of course, that wasn't really a surprise to me at all. I quickly refocused my attention on the road in front of me, but losing a group of people you couldn't see or hear was easier said then done. As such, I did the only thing I could think to do. As I ran, I turned around nearly every corner I passed, running in a completely random pattern, and hoping that it would be enough to confuse em and ditch em.

X

I ended up running around for about ten minutes or so, and finally stopped to take a breath, wiping several beads of sweat from my forehead. "...Hopefully...that did it." I said in between breaths, then took a moment to look around, seeing that I had somehow ended up in the middle of the city's market place.

However, in losing one problem, I seem to have gained an even bigger, and far more annoying one. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard the one voice that I despised more then any other. "DAMIAN!"

This was a voice I knew all too well. It surprised me at first, given how sudden it was, but that shock was quickly replaced with a high level of irritation. _"Oh joy...Its the spear moron." _I thought to myself in a sarcastic tone, then quickly turned towards the source of the voice.

Just in time too, as the one and only Motoyasu jumped at me, spinning his spear above his head. He attempted to strike me where I stood, his eyes filled with some very obvious anger.

I was just a little too fast for him though, jumping backwards and avoiding his attack by the skin of my teeth. Motoyasu ended up thrusting his spear into the ground as a result, while I regained my balance and glared at him.

And just like that, peace on the streets of Melromarc came to an abrupt end. Every citizen in the area let out a gasp, then turned in the direction of the scene that had just broken out in the middle of their city.

"If that was supposed to be a sneak attack, then here's a piece of advice for ya. Maybe don't yell out my name at the top of your lungs before you actually hit me next time." I said to Motoyasu, raising my shield at him, and maintaining my cool for the moment.

"Shut your face!" Motoyasu yelled at me, then quickly pulled his spear out of the ground and swung it at me. I blocked his attack with my shield, but he wasn't done attacking or yelling just yet. "I've leveled up a lot since our last encounter! Ill defeat you here and now, and prove to everyone who the strongest one in the kingdom really is!" He gripped his spear, took aim, then charged straight for me, yelling out a loud battle cry.

But that proved to be a big mistake on his part, as I quickly switched to my Nue Shield, and blocked his attack yet again. "Lightning Shield!" Since I really cant stand Motoyasu, I put as much magic power as I could into this attack.

Before Motoyasu could react, my shield started surging with high levels of electricity. In seconds, lightning burst from my shield, giving Motoyasu a very painful, and very literal shock to his system. In the midst of the lighting that had surrounded his entire body, Motoyasu let out a loud cry of pain, but was unfortunately still hanging tough. He jumped back from me as quickly as he could, then it was his turn to catch his breath, with several burn marks already present on his body.

All the while, I continued to glare at Motoyasu, keeping my shield raised and pointed right at him. "Geez. I knew you were a dumbass with an ego, but attacking me in broad daylight right in the middle of the city? I kicked your sorry ass twice already. Do you really wanna make it three?"

Motoyasu glared right back at me, gritting his teeth, as he became even more angry. "Rgh! Do you have any idea what you did to me?! Once word got out that you, the disgraced shield hero, beat me in a duel, then in a race, I started getting fewer and fewer job requests! Now thanks to you, no one's requested me for a mission in weeks!"

"Hey, your the one who instigated those fights ya jerk! You and that rotten princess of yours! And if that's true, and if you had any common sense, then you'd know that me kickin your ass a third time isn't gonna fix anything!" I started yelling back at him, but on the inside, I was smirking and laughing. _"Oh my Lucifer! This idiot's reputation is deteriorating even faster then I thought it would, and he has no idea why. I suppose I could tell him about the plant monsters, but where's the fun in that? He can figure it out on his own, or die trying for all I care."_

"Don't you dare talk about Myne like that! And you wont beat me again! Since no one's been requesting me for jobs, I've been forced to battle monsters non-stop and collect their drops to earn money! So I'm a lot stronger this time around!" His anger ever burning, he continued to yell at me, completely unaware of what was really going on in the kingdom of Melromarc.

Although, I wasn't fully aware of it myself. From the shadows, the name of the demon lord Damian Abyss was spreading like wildfire, and that name was carrying more weight then even I realized at this time. Be that as it may, I did still enjoy what was happening to Motoyasu. "And you think I've just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs since our last encounter? Your not the only one with a legendary weapon ya know."

"That may be, but my weapon is wielded by someone whose heart and soul are pure and just! Both of us may fight against the waves, but we stand on opposites sides with everything else! You seem to really love your demons, but I love angels! And everyone knows which side is good, and which side is evil!" He keeps on yelling at me, and ends up striking a heroic pose, at least it felt like one to him.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised to hear that he had a thing for angels. And I had to admit, it did seem almost poetic to me. The keyword there being "almost". "That's kinda presumptuous, don't ya think? I've seen at least a dozen anime's where the demons were cast as the protagonists, and the angels were cast as the antagonists." It was then that I glanced down for just a moment, and noticed that Motoyasu had gotten himself some new armor to protect his man zone. Naturally, I couldn't help but point at it and laugh at least a little. "Dude, what the hell? Are you actually wearing something like that?"

Motoyasu looked down at himself for a few seconds, saw what I was referring to, then looked at me again, his glare towards me turning far more dark. "Don't laugh! This is all because of that dragon of yours! I'm gonna send you and your mud eating lizard straight to hell where you both belong! Air Strike Javelin!" His spear glowing with energy, he took aim, then threw it right at me.

And just like that, the fight was back on. Since this wasn't a physical attack, I was unable to shock Motoyasu with my Nue Shield again, but I was able to deflect his attack. His Air Strike Javelin bounced off my shield, and ended up hitting and destroying someone's fruit stand, causing several civilians to run away screaming in fear.

Motoyasu wasn't done yet though. He transformed his spear, then quickly attempted to hit me with another one of his skills. "Chaos Spear!"

This time, I was able to dodge all of the barrage attacks he threw at me. As a result, his attacks ended up hitting the walls of several buildings, and destroying a few more stands. All the while, more and more citizens ran away from the scene, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.

However, not all of the citizens in the area were so easily frightened. The ones that stuck around ended up yelling and fist fighting with each other, adding to the chaos that seemed to be growing quite prevalent in the shopping district of Melromarc.

Motoyasu didn't seem to notice though, or he just didn't care, as he kept his full and undivided attention on me. "Your mine Damian!" He charged straight at me once more, his own rage blinding him to what happened the last time he tried the direct approach with me and my Nue Shield.

I definitely hadn't forgotten though, but I was feeling adventurous. So I grinned at my foe, reached into my pocket, pulled out a single seed, and switched over to my Bio Plant Shield. "Enjoy a taste of your own medicine Motoyasu. Go get em!" I used my shield's power on the seed in my grip, then tossed it down on the ground right in front of Motoyasu.

The seed started taking root in mere seconds, growing into a human sized version of the plant monster that me, Roxanne, and Plum faced and killed before. Motoyasu was very shocked by this, but was too late to stop the monster from wrapping its vines around his arms and legs. "Hey! What is this?! Get it off of me! Damian!" The spear hero tried to break free of my plant monster's clutches, but was having more then a little trouble with that.

One look at this, and I found myself laughing even more. I also felt rather proud of myself, seeing that the many hours of work I put into those seeds was well worth the time and effort.

Sadly, my plant monster was nowhere near as strong, or durable as the original. That was very well demonstrated when a fairly powerful fireball came out of nowhere, and struck my plant monster, killing it and freeing Motoyasu from its clutches.

And just like that, my grin and my laughter were gone, and my glare returned, but it wasn't because of the death of my plant monster. It was because of the voice I heard not long after.

"Surround him!" It was Malty, the current bane of my existence. She'd just arrived on the scene with a team of knights, and was smirking her usual, evil smirk at me. And from the looks of the wand in her hand, she was the one who shot off the fireball that killed my plant monster.

At her order, all of her knights drew their swords, and quickly had me surrounded on all sides. The only plus side to this was that Malty's spell, combined with the actions of her knights were enough to stop all the citizens from fighting with each other, as they all turned their attentions to the new scene that was now unfolding before their eyes.

I grit my teeth as I glared at the redheaded princess, feeling my own anger begin to rise at her sudden appearance. I also noticed that one of her knights was giving me a rather intense glare himself. I didn't bother remembering him, so I had no idea why that was, but he was there during the first wave, and remembered it all very clearly. Primarily when his captain was killed by a large undead monster, and I made absolutely no effort to prevent the death of his captain.

Once her knights had me completely surrounded, Malty held up another of her royal decrees, and addressed the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare this an official duel between the spear hero and the shield hero! All thanks to the royal crown, which has given me the authority to do so!"

_"So what? Your royal crown gives you the authority to declare any random crap you want, anytime you want? I swear to Lucifer, I'm gonna enjoy knocking that crown right off your head one day. Then Ill take even greater pleasure in knocking your head right off your shoulders!" _I thought to myself, starting to feel the Rage Shield coming on again, though I wasn't fully aware of it at that moment.

However, both my rage and the scene were interrupted by the sound of yet another familiar voice, but this was a voice that I actually didn't mind hearing. "Put your weapons away!"

Suddenly, before I could say a word, every single one of Malty's knights put their swords away, fell to their knees, and lowered their heads. This had me confused. I knew whose voice that was, but I had no idea why it seemed to carry such weight with the royal knights. At least, not yet I didn't.

Appearing on the scene with her own squad of knights was Melty, the girl that me and my party had traveled to the city with. "I absolutely forbid the heroes fighting amongst themselves!"

As I watched this new scene unfold, I began to have some suspicions about Melty's true identity, but I didn't feel like I had enough information to confirm those suspicions just yet. So rather then interrupting and asking questions, I decided to just stay quiet, and wait and see how this whole thing would play out.

Just then, Malty lost her smirk, and began to look at Melty with annoyance all over her face. "W-What are you doing back here?" She asked the younger girl, sounding like she already knew her.

Melty, on the other hand, was perfectly calm and composed, taking a few steps toward Malty. "It has been far too long, dear sister."

And just like that, my suspicions were confirmed, as I let out a small gasp, and my eyes grew wide for a moment. My shock wore off fairly quickly though, as I began to mentally mull this revelation over. _"Sister?!...In hindsight, we never did ask Melty about her family, did we? It kinda should've been obviously though, now that I think about it. Melty. Malty. Their idiot father must've come up with those names, because they are NOT very imaginative. Only one letter's worth of difference between the names of your two daughter's old man? Seriously?"_

I came back to reality just in time to hear Melty starting to scold her elder sister, actually sounding like a real leader, and not some spoiled daddy's girl. "I hope you don't think you or the hero's privilege can cover up this mess. The damage that has been done is clear for everyone to see." Melty then turned her attention to Motoyasu, offering him some words of wisdom in a more gentle tone. "Spear hero, look around you. Would you call someone a hero when they put other's lives at risk?"

Melty's words caused Motoyasu to flinch, as he took a look around himself at all the damage he'd caused while he was attempting to attack me, and some doubts began to creep into his mind as a result. Seconds later, he too lowered his weapon, and let out a sigh of defeat.

"Dear sister, your fun and games have gone on much too long." Melty turned her attention back to her sister, stopping just a short distance away from her, and looking her straight in the eye.

Thinking fast, Malty managed to calm herself down a bit, and put her smirk back on, attempting to dismiss all of her younger sister's words. "I have no idea what your talking about. I'm simply doing my job as the hero's aid. That's all."

"Oh, so having two heroes fight in a public place is your idea of aid I see." Melty was quick to respond, her firm tone and facial expression never wavering for even a second.

This caused Malty to lose her smirk yet again, in favor of a more angry expression and tone to go along with it. "Do you dare to defy me, your elder sister?"

This didn't seem to frighten Melty even a little, as she threw a threat of her own right back at Malty. "If I have to, I will let mother know about this."

At that point, the only thing Malty could do was grit her teeth, and let out a small sigh of frustration. "Tch."

After that, Melty went around to each of the citizens in the area, offering them a bow, and apologizing to them for everything that took place in the past twenty or so minutes. One by one, the citizens of Melromarc smiled at the young girl, insisting that it was okay, and that she herself had no reason to apologize.

All the while, I found myself staring at Melty, continuing to think to myself about her, as I turned my shield back into its normal form. _"Not bad kid. Not gonna lie, I enjoyed watching someone put Malty in her place. Still, from the way they were talking, is Malty really the heir to the throne like she claims to be?" _I thought it over for a minute, and quickly called to mind how big of a liar Malty was, and dismissed the thought of her sitting on the throne immediately, slowly shaking my head from side to side a few times. _"Nah! No way. Not a chance in hell. So then, that means Melty is-" _I kept my gaze focused on Melty, but my thoughts came to an end the second I heard one more familiar voice. And this was a voice that I was actually very happy to hear.

"Lord Damian!" Much to my relief, Roxanne and Plum had finally arrived on the scene, running over to me as I turned to face them. "What happened here? Did we miss something? Are you okay?" Roxanne started asking me questions as soon as she and Plum came to a stop, looking and sounding concerned about me.

That was all it took to bring my smile back, as I answered all of Roxanne's questions, very happy to see my companions after everything that just happened. "Not much. Just the spear idiot and his bitchy girlfriend pickin a fight with me again. And yeah, I'm fine, but thanks for asking Roxanne."

Unfortunately for us, Motoyasu wasn't quite done yet, as he raised his voice at me again, regaining my attention. "This isn't over Damian, you swine! Mark my words, someday I will make you pay for what you've done to me and my reputation! Sooner or later, your luck will run out, then Ill be there to-GAH!" Suddenly, and without any kind of warning, a single stone pillar shot up from the ground directly under Motoyasu. The pillar slammed him hard, right between his legs, destroying the armor he was wearing to protect his business, and sending him flying right into some large wooden crates, all while he was shouting at the top of his lungs in pure agony.

"Sir Motoyasu!" Malty yelled out in shock, while everyone else in the area looked on with shock and confusion, wondering what just happened to the spear hero.

Well, almost everyone. Me and Roxanne sure knew what happened, and it made us both burst into laughter right away, exactly like the last time this happened to Motoyasu. "Ahahahahahahah! Plum, that was just perfect! Ahahahahahah! But why did you do it now?! Ahahahahahah!" Roxanne managed to ask Plum in between her laughter, simply curious of Plum's motives.

It was indeed true that Plum was the one responsible for Motoyasu's second dose of extreme pain, having stomped her foot on the ground and used her magic while he was yelling at me just a moment ago. Our reptilian companion wasn't laughing, but still smiled at me and Roxanne as she answered, happy to see us so happy. "Well, I could sense that you two were feeling kind of tense, then I remember that you both really seemed to enjoy it when I did this to that spear person the last time we saw him. So I thought doing it again would make the both of you happy this time too."

"Well you thought right! Ahahahahahah! Thanks Plum! Ahahahahah!" I said to Plum in between my own fits of laughter, extremely thrilled that she decided to do that.

Me and Roxanne continued to laugh for several more minutes, then the two of us finally calmed ourselves down, slowly regaining out breath. Sadly, we weren't out of the woods just yet, as Malty turned to us, glared, then proceeded to walk over to us and hit us with her own little declaration of war. "Now you listen to me, you band of freaks! Don't think for a second that this is all over! I swear, Ill make you regret crossing the rightful crowned princess of Melromarc! Furthermore-"

However, she too was interrupted right in the middle of her little speech, but this time it was Roxanne who cut in. After letting out a small sigh of annoyance, Roxanne thought fast, getting a rather devilish smirk on her face. Her eyes began to glow, as the five tailed kitsune used her illusion magic to transform herself. When her illusion took its full effect, Roxanne looked exactly like Malty.

This sudden change took us all by surprise, mainly Malty, as all eyes looked at Roxanne with confusion in them. On the other hand, once the shock wore off for me, I looked at Roxanne with a smirk of my own, already having a pretty good idea of where she was going with this, and I couldn't wait to see it play out for myself.

With her illusion all set and ready to go, Roxanne started to mimic Malty's voice as best as she could, using it and her illusion to mock the self proclaimed princess. "Oh no! My kingdom is in ruins because me and my father completely fail at rulers! The three cardinal heroes have failed us as well! How could I have been so foolish?! Wont you please save me sir Damian?! I now see what a huge, dumb bitch I've been, and that you are the greatest hero in all the land! All hail the demon lord! Damian Abyss!" Roxanne struck several helpless and defeated poses during her little show, and even bowed to me a few times. All while still looking exactly like Malty, and sounding almost exactly like her too.

Plum didn't really understand Roxanne's joke, so she just looked confused for most of it. I definitely understood it though, as I started laughing once again, finding Roxanne's performance to be just as entertaining as Plum's surprise attack on Motoyasu's junk.

Roxanne's performance wasn't so funny to the real Malty though, as she grit her teeth, and glared at Roxanne with some very intense rage all over her face. "W-Why you...HOW DARE YOU! I would never say or do those things!" The self proclaimed princess quickly gave in to her rage, and made an attempt to grab Roxanne.

Unfortunately for her, Roxanne was too fast for her, quickly dodging her attempted grab, ending her illusion, and giving Malty a good smack to the side of her face with all five of her tails. Malty stumbled backwards, gasping at this, while Roxanne stayed by my side, giggling to herself for a few seconds after that, clearly very pleased with the results of her handy work. "Oh, what's the matter princess? You didn't like my show?" Roxanne asked Malty in a mocking tone, then playfully stuck her tongue out at her.

After that, I wrapped one arm around each of my companions, and gave each of them a big kiss on their cheeks. "Girls, I love you both so much right now."

Roxanne and Plum both blushes and smiled at me for that, both very happy to see me in such a good mood, and to receive me affection. As always.

Malty placed her hand on the cheek that Roxanne's tails smacked, glaring with even more rage at me and my party, but was stopped cold before she could raise her voice at us again. "That's enough dear sister. Your hero needs medical attention. Take him, and your knights, and walk away. Please, lets not cause more trouble for the citizens of our kingdom then we already have." Melty said to her sister in her usual calm and collected, having turned her attention back to her shortly after Motoyasu was sent flying into a pile of crated merchandise.

Malty turned back to her sister, and said nothing for almost thirty seconds, realizing that this was not a confrontation she could win. And so, Malty let out an angry grunt, then turned back to her squad of knights. "Somebody get sir Motoyasu to a doctor, and make it quick! We're leaving!"

Malty's knights obeyed her orders without question, gathering up Motoyasu, then retreating from the area with Malty leading them out. As Melty watched them leave, she placed her hand on her face, and let out a deep sigh, not at all pleased with the way things turned out.

However, it was the opposite for me and my party, as we all continued to smile, as I released Roxanne and Plum from my hold. "Looks like we win again. Great job as always girls."

"Thank you lord Damian. That makes the score three wins for us, and zero for them. When will they learn?" Roxanne responded to my words, sounding just as pleased with this outcome as I was.

"I'm not sure, but if they ever try picking a fight with us again, Ill be sure to hit that spear person even harder next time." Plum added, causing me and Roxanne to let out a few more chuckles.

With the troublemakers out of the way, Melty finally turned her full attention towards me, Roxanne, and Plum, walking over to us and looking up at me. "Our demon lord of the earth dragon. No, I believe it would be more correct to call you the shield hero. I need to speak with you urgently."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned and looked down at Melty, listening to her words. When she was done speaking, both Roxanne and Plum turned back to me, waiting to hear what my response would be.

For a full minute, all I did was look down into Melty's eyes, not saying a word. I once again saw my sister's face over Melty's face, and that was when I decided to at least hear what she had to say.

X

Not wanting to have our discussion outside in public, we all headed to Erhard's shop, since it was fairly close to our previous location at the shopping district. Me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all walked inside, while Melty's team of knights waited outside the shop.

As soon as Erhard saw us with the crowned princess, he was immediately confused, and started leaning on the counter of his shop. "So, do any of you wanna clue me in on this one?"

"That depends. Do ya want the long version, or the short version?" I answered his question with a question, as me, the princess, and my party moved off to the right side of his shop, and I started leaning against a barrel not long after we got there. "We're a little busy right now though, so your explanation is gonna have to wait."

Erhard's gaze followed us as we moved, and he continued to try and get some sort of explanation out of us. "Okay, well then how about telling me why your about to use my shop of all places as a conference room?"

"Partly because we actually have some stuff that we need from you, and partly because it was the closest place in this city we could think of." Roxanne answered him that time, and that seemed to be enough for the shop owner for the time being, as he stayed quiet after that, letting me and my party begin our discussion with the blue haired princess.

"So, why don't we try this again? Who exactly are you?" Crossing my arms, I looked down at Melty again, and started questioning her.

Melty looked back at me, and began to calmly explain herself. "Please forgive me for not telling you back when we first met. The truth is, I'm first in line to the throne of Melromarc. Princess Melty Q Melromarc."

Since they weren't present for the reveal back at the shopping district, both Roxanne and Plum were rather surprised by this piece of information. "But I don't understand. Doesn't that make that red haired bitch your older sister? How are you next in line to the throne?" Roxanne asked Melty as soon as the shock wore off, not really sure how that worked at all.

"My sister has always been a problem child, due to certain...personality difficulties." Melty answered Roxanne, but had kind of a hard time finding a nice way to describe her sister.

"You mean she's always been an evil, manipulative person?" Plum asked, blurting that out without really thinking about it. Not that any of us seemed to mind of course.

"Well...yes, but Ill spare you the details for now." Melty answered Plum, then turned back to me, refocusing herself on the matter at hand. "In any case, I had no idea that you were the shield hero before today, but then, this might be a perfect opportunity."

"Opportunity for what?" I asked Melty, raising one eyebrow at her, not at all surprised that she was next in line to the throne, rather then her skank of a sister.

"If you don't mind, Id like for you to come to the castle and have a talk with my father, the king." Melty gave me her answer, having no idea of anything that's already happened between me and that man.

Upon hearing this, my facial expression and tone changed right away, becoming far more cold and spiteful. "Not happening. I've got absolutely nothing to say to that disgusting sack of crap."

Given our history, both with each other and with the king of Melromarc, neither Roxanne nor Plum were surprised by my words or my reaction. In fact, Roxanne's facial expression was almost identical to mine by that point. And Plum could clearly sense the malice coming from both of us, but she'd heard all of our stories regarding the king of this kingdom, so she decided to remain silent for the time being, at least until one or both of us started to boil over.

At the same time, upon hearing my retort, and looking into my eyes, Melty flinched and let out a small gasp. She was very confused, and a little hurt by my words, as she quickly found herself wondering what exactly transpired while she was away from her home.

**Well, Damian and his party's return to the city of Melromarc has gone about as well as expected so far. Hopefully things will start to go their way further down the line, but I doubt Motoyasu and Malty will be causing our heroes anymore trouble for a while. We can only hope that Motoyasu remembers that pain, and will attempt a better approach next time around. But lets be honest, we all know he wont, and that's just fine to most, if not all of us. That just means more pain for him, and more laughs for us.**

**Now then, time for some questions some of you might have, and some answers to go along with them.**

**Why did I skip that scene in the church with the holy water? Simply because Roxanne never got burned by the flames of Damian's Rage Shield in the previous chapter, like Raphtalia did in the main story, so there was really no point in Damian and Roxanne going to the church in this chapter.**

**Why didn't Roxanne end up getting burned by Damian Rage Shield in the previous chapter? Well, one key difference between Roxanne and Raphtalia, besides their races, is the fact that Raphtalia isn't actually 18 years old. She only appears that way because of the whole demi-human level growth thing. Meanwhile, Roxanne is actually 18 years of age, so she's been alive a lot longer then Raphtalia, and therefore, has a lot more life experience and knowledge under her belt. Enough to know not to literally run into a raging inferno, even if its for a loved one, and to come up with a better plan then that. No offense to Raphtalia of course.**

**Who were the mysterious beings stalking Damian and Roxanne on the streets of Melromarc? How will the rest of Damian and his party's return to the capital turn out? Will Melty be able to reason with Damian, or will he reject her right away just like Naofumi did? And will me and my family ever be able to get the smell of ash out of my parent's house?**

**So sorry, but the answers to that last batch of questions will have to wait for next time. Until then, if ya haven't seen the new My Hero Academia movie, or the dubbed version of Konosuba season 2, and you happen to be a fan of either of those animes, then I highly recommend that you check em out.**

**OverlordDracoLucifer over and out!**


	12. Ch 11 - Evolutions and Revelations

**I'm a little short on witty banter at the moment, so I hope you can all forgive me if I decide to keep this chapter's introduction brief yet again. Thanks so much.**

**I hope all of you have been doin okay, especially with that virus floatin around. Me and everyone I know have been holdin up okay, but most of us have been forced out of work, college, and school as a result. Not that I'm complaining of course. Personally, I've really been enjoying all this extra down time. My brothers and sister have been goin a little stir crazy though, so that's a bummer. I think I speak for all of us in saying that I hope someone finds a cure for this virus sooner rather then later. And if any of you have already lost someone to it, well then I'm very sorry about that, and I offer you my deepest sympathies.**

**Now then, as always, lets move onto a far brighter topic. Here's my latest chapter, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy it to the fullest! Much like how Ill enjoy One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 to the fullest in about four days. I am so pumped for it!**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters, locations, or events. I only own my OC's. Damian Abyss, Roxanne, Plum, and more to come.**

Chapter 11 - Evolutions and Revelations

After a long, profitable, and exciting adventure as traveling merchants, me, Roxanne, and Plum finally decided to return to the place where our journey originally began. The capital city of Melromarc. For multiple reasons, none of us had any desire to return to that god forsaken city, but we had important business to attend to within its walls. So the three of us decided to make the trip back to Melromarc, and along the way, we met a young girl named Melty. Although she is a human, she's not like any human any of us have met before. At least in the kingdom of Melromarc. After talking it over, we all decided to give Melty a lift back to the capital, and the trip ended up being a lot of fun for all of us.

Upon reaching the capital city, we all went our separate ways to begin tackling the list of things we had to do during our time in said city. Me and Roxanne ran into some trouble, which resulted me in running a foul of Motoyasu and Malty. Or as I like to call them, the spear idiot and his bitchy princess. Fortunately, thanks to all the new powers and skills I obtained during my time away from the city, they weren't much trouble. But the biggest surprise, possibly of my entire time since being summoned to this new world, was finding out that Melty was Malty's younger sister, and the rightful heir to the throne of Melromarc. Once the mess Motoyasu and Malty caused was dealt with, Melty asked to speak with me and my party, and despite this sudden revelation, we all decided to hear her out.

However, Melty's request was not to our liking at all. The second I heard her ask me to speak with her father, the king, my facial expression changed into one of pure disgust and hatred, as I refused her request right away.

Roxanne had pretty much the same facial expression and mindset as me at the time, fully supporting the answer I gave the young blue haired princess. And as for Plum, she didn't exactly enjoy all the negative emotions she was sensing from me and Roxanne, but she also remembered all the stories we told her about king Aultcray and what he'd done to us. So the lizardwoman stayed silent, waiting to see how the rest of this conversation would play out, and looking a little uneasy about the whole thing too.

As she looked around at all of us, Melty could tell right away that something serious must've happened between us and her father, but she was a very persistent one, and refused to give up. "Please wait! You have to hear me out!"

"No. How about you hear me out instead?" I said to her in a firm, unyielding tone, leaning against some of Erhard's merchandise and looking down at Melty with a facial expression to match my tone. "I may be one of this kingdom's four cardinal heroes or whatever, but since I arrived here, your douchebag of a father has done nothing but try his damnedest to discredit, ostracize, and even destroy me at every turn. And based on what I've found out about him, it hasn't just been me." As I said that last part, I called to mind the story Roxanne told me and Plum about Sasha, and what Aultcray did to her people and their leader, as well as Roxanne's home and her people as well.

"Its all true Melty." Roxanne added, joining in on the conversation, looking and sounding just as displeased as I did. "Your father is one of, if not the most vile, disgusting, and evil human beings I have ever known. His treatment of demi-humans is far worse then you could ever know, and to add insult to injury, he never seems to feel any regret or remorse for the things he's done in the slightest. He puts demi-humans, lord Damian, and anyone else who doesn't agree with him through hell. All while he just sits on his throne, enjoying all the comforts and luxuries this world has to offer, and acting like he's done nothing wrong."

As she listened to our words, Melty took a single step back, looking up at me and Roxanne with a mixture of confusion and sadness all over her face. Still, her resolve didn't waver, as she continued to try getting through to us. "I'm well aware that my father has been treating the shield hero and demi-humans unfairly, but if you'll just come with me and talk to him, I'm certain you can all reach a compromise of some kind."

Hearing this, I simply shook my head at Melty before responding. "Oh, we're way passed that Melty. If there was even a small chance of that happening, it disappeared long ago. It doesn't matter anyway though. Once me, Roxanne, and Plum finish up the work we have to do here in the capital, we're out of here. No one in this kingdom will ever see or hear from us again, and I say good riddance to all of ya. Aultcray and Malty better hope their precious three cardinal stooges wise up quick, because once we're gone, this kingdom is on its own dealing with the waves of catastrophe. I'm sick of the moronic king! I'm sick of the toxic princess! I'm sick of the three cardinal stooges! And I'm sick of this whole damn kingdom!" I raised my voice at Melty, and I meant every single word that I said to her.

The second she heard this from me, Melty started to panic a little, and began to plead with me rather desperately. "What?! No! You cant leave! The four cardinal heroes must work together to save this world from the waves of catastrophe! Not a single one of them can do it without the other three! I know my father and sister have made plenty of mistakes in their lives, but you shouldn't blame the whole kingdom for the actions taken by those two alone! Please shield hero Damian! Listen to me!"

It was easy for me to see how important all of this was to her, but honestly, every single one of Melty's words just made me wanna laugh. "Ha! Us work together with them? Try telling them that! And as for this kingdom, the people were pretty quick to cast me out, just because their king told them to." After getting those words out, I took a moment to take a deep breath, and calm down a little, my expression softening slightly. "Listen Melty, we only agreed to take you home safely, and we did. I doubt your father will give us a reward for doing so, but that's just fine. We don't need his money. Ill admit, your not like most of the other humans I've met in my life Melty, but your not gonna change my mind about all of this."

"Your father may be a total ass, but we know he treats his daughters well at least. So go on home now Melty, and be ready to get the hell out of this kingdom when it one day falls during one of the waves." Roxanne once again jumped into the conversation, offering Melty some advice, in addition to her consistently obvious hatred for the king, as well as her agreement with me on the subject.

Our words were starting to make Melty look hurt, but even after hearing all of that from us, her determination never faded away, as she prepared herself to speak up again. Unfortunately for her, at that moment, one of her knights opened the front door of Erhard's shop and entered, addressing the young princess after doing so. "Princess Melty, his royal majesty calls. Please come with us."

Melty turned to face her knight as soon as she heard the sound of his voice, realizing that she'd run out of time to speak with me and my party. This realization clearly made her even more upset then she already was, as she clenched her fists and started shaking slightly, but still refused to lose her composure despite it all. "Very well. Ill go." The blue haired girl then turned to face me and my party once more, offering us a few final words before departing. "I do hope that you reconsider, but if you don't, then I still hope you all get to live happy lives wherever you end up." Melty once again turned back to her knight after that, and proceeded to leave Erhard's shop with him, bound for the castle.

"Goodbye Melty. Take care of yourself." Plum said to Melty just before she closed the door behind her, then she turned to face me and Roxanne, looking and sounding a bit saddened by everything that just took place. "She was so sad and disappointed..."

Looking back at Plum, I let out a sigh, and scratched the back of my head a few times. "That much was obvious Plum, and believe me, I didn't exactly enjoy all of that, but at the end of the day, Melty is still a human. We cant place our full trust in her. Besides, we all know that there's absolutely no chance of us reasoning with her father. That man hates our guts, and the feeling is incredibly mutual."

"It might not seem ideal to most people, but lord Damian is right Plum. We only promised to bring her back to her home, and nothing more. Melty may be different from most humans, but at their cores, all humans are the same." Roxanne added, her fist clenched tightly, but even she was feeling at least a few regrets about turning Melty away the way that we did.

Plum could sense these regrets in both me and Roxanne, and despite everything that had just taken place, it made her smile at both of us. Even if it was just a little bit, our scaly companion could tell that Melty had started to win us over. "Sure lord Damian, Roxanne. What ever you say."

"Jeez you guys, you know I'm standing right here, don't you? Why don't you tell me how you really feel?" Erhard suddenly re-established his presence, still standing behind his counter, and talking to us in a sarcastic tone.

All three of us turned in the shop owner's direction as soon as we heard the sound of his voice, having almost forgotten that he was there. Still, I maintained my composure as I answered him. "Oh, c'mon. You know our relationship is strictly business. And speaking of business, we actually have some with you." After addressing Erhard, I turned my attention to Plum, giving her a request. "Plum, could you please run back to our carriage, grab all the dragon materials on board, and bring them back here for me?"

Plum quickly turned back to me, then gave me a smile and a nod. "Of course lord Damian. Leave it to me." The lizardwoman turned again, walked outside the shop, transformed back into her dragon form, then ran off to the spot where our carriage was hidden as fast as she could.

"She'll be back shortly." I informed Erhard, then decided to take a look around his shop while we waited for Plum to return. Roxanne was quick to join me on that, taking a closer look at some swords, then caught sight of herself in a mirror, and proceeded to fix her hair and her outfit.

"If you've got dragon materials, I'm guessing you want me to upgrade your made to order armor. Is that right?" Erhard asked me in a knowing tone, starting to get excited by the idea of working with dragon materials, but that excitement quickly vanished when he remembered Plum. "Are you sure your dragon friend wont mind you wearing dragon armor?"

"Me and Plum already talked about it. She's fine with it. True, ordinarily I wouldn't harm a dragon, but this particular dragon was undead and suffering." I answered Erhard again, but didn't really feel like telling him the whole story. Besides, my attention was greatly divided at the time. Id never really taken the time to notice before, but Erhard's shop was filled with all different kinds of shields. I suddenly found myself thinking back to the weapon copy system, and decided to give it a try with some of Erhard's shields. I grabbed one of the shields Erhard had hanging on the wall, then used my weapon copy system on it. A split second later, my shield transformed into a perfect copy of the shield in my hands, apart from the green gemstone in the middle of course.

Immediately after I did this, Roxanne and Erhard both turned to me. Roxanne smiled at me, knowing that this would make me stronger. Meanwhile, Erhard looked surprised, having no idea that the legendary cardinal weapons were capable of that. "What the hell?! You tryin to run me out of business now?!"

The shield I just gained gave me a small boost to my defense stat, causing me to smile, as I put the original back on the wall, then proceeded to grab another shield off one of the shelves. "Settle down, would ya? I've got more then enough cash on hand to pay ya with. Besides, I'm the shield hero, remember? This is necessary." I said to Erhard in a calm tone, as I copied another of his shields, earning another boost to my defense stat.

"Maybe, but that shield you just ripped off is expensive!" Erhard was far less calm then I was about the whole thing, but neither me nor Roxanne paid him much mind. We were both far too interested, and excited by the idea of adding more shields to my already vast arsenal.

"Here lord Damian! Try this one! Oh, and this one too!" With a big smile on her face, Roxanne grabbed two more shields, and quickly brought them over to me.

I copied both shields, earning stat boosts from each of them. By that point, Erhard was freaking out, but me and Roxanne ignored him, grabbed shield after shield for me to copy. Most of them just gave me simply stat boosts, but one among them gave me a new skill. It was a shield called the Siderite Shield, and it gave me the Meteor Shield skill.

Eventually, Erhard finally gave in, and let us copy every shield he had in his shop, much to his dismay though. "FINE! Just do what ever you want!" He yelled out as loud as he could, then followed that up with a heavy sigh. He then put one hand under his chin, and leaned forward on his counter again, waiting for the two of us to finish.

By the time me and Roxanne were done, Id added almost twenty new shields to my arsenal. Most of them just gave me simple stat boosts, but that made no difference to me and Roxanne. We both smiled at the results, very pleased with them.

We finally acknowledged Erhard after that, and the three of us spent the next several minutes discussing payment for all the shields I just copied. Thankfully, Erhard was pretty cool about it after calming down, and agreed to let us off with half price for each shield, mostly because I was the shield hero and we weren't actually buying the shields themselves. Fortunately, thanks to all of our work as traveling merchants, we had more then enough money to cover that, as well as what it would cost to get my armor upgraded.

Plum returned to Erhard's shop not long after that, carrying with her every material we saved from the dragon zombie, still preserved in fairly good condition, thanks to the ice magic from my Frozen Pride Shield. She transformed into her lizardwoman form again, walked up to the counter, and placed all the materials down on it.

I thanked Plum for doing this, giving her a warm smile, as I removed the pieces of my armor that I wanted upgraded from my body, and placed them on the counter beside the dragon materials. While Roxanne used her fire magic to thaw the materials out for Erhard to use, I grabbed my money pouch out of my bag, and paid Erhard the price we agreed upon for my armor upgrade and all the shields I copied.

Erhard finally started to smile when he received his payment, and proceeded to count it before putting it away. It was rare that he had the chance to work with materials from a dragon, but he still promised me that he'd do his best to make my armor far better then it already was, and informed me and my party that we could come back for the finished product tomorrow around noon.

I thanked Erhard for his service, then decided to address the other reason me and my companions came to his shop. "Now that that's settled, maybe you can answer a question for me. What do the gold stars next to Roxanne and Plum's status bars mean?"

Hearing my question, Erhard looked a little surprised again, and answered in a mildly impressed tone, turning to Roxanne and Plum as he did. "Oh, so you girls are ready for class upgrades already?"

Needless to say, this peaked the curiosity of all three of us right away. "Class upgrades? What are those?" Plum questioned Erhard, wanting him to elaborate on this.

"It lets you increase your level cap. Without it, you'll be stuck at the level your at now. Only those recognized by the court have the option of doing so though. Fortunately for you two ladies, since the leader of your party is a cardinal hero, its definitely possible for both of you to get one. When your upgrading your class, that's when you choose which path you wanna take as an adventurer. And believe me, I had a hell of a lot of trouble deciding on mine. Class upgrades can be performed at any dragon hourglass, so you should probably head over to Melromarc's as soon as you decide which paths you'd like to take yourselves." Erhard was nice enough to give us all a good explanation, and we all listened intently to his words.

"I see. We were already planning on heading over to the dragon hourglass at some point today anyway. Have either of you thought about what kinds of upgrades you'd want Roxanne? Plum?" I asked my companions, having seen this sort of concept in several different RPG's I've played back in my home world.

"I already have a pretty good idea of what I want. Me and Sasha used to talk about it all the time." Roxanne answered me with plenty of confidence and decisiveness in her voice, having had more then enough time to think about this and come to a decision for herself.

Plum, on the other hand, tilted her head in her usual confused fashion, looking and sounding far less decisive then Roxanne. "Uhhh...I guess Ill wait and see what kinds of choices I have to choose from for my class upgrade, then pick whichever one looks like its the best fit for me."

"I suppose that'll do. I'm sure there's no such thing as a weak or useless class anyway. Just like my shield, everything in this world seems to have its own unique and powerful skillset, and I have complete faith in each of you. I'm sure you can both put what ever you choose to good use." I responded to my companion's answers with confidence in my voice, and another smile on my face.

Roxanne and Plum both smiled back at me, and nodded in response. Both of them were happy to hear those things from me, and they were both equally determined not to let me down. "As always, we'll do our best lord Damian." Roxanne said to me, knowing that I would always do the same for them.

"You can count on us." Plum added, already starting to think of possible class upgrades for herself.

I nodded right back at them, then turned back to Erhard. "Thanks again for your business, and the info. We'll be back tomorrow to pick up my newly upgraded armor. See ya then." I waved him off, then me and my companions began to make our way to the door.

"Don't mention it kid. See ya tomorrow you three." Erhard smiled and waved back to me, seeing us off. Once we were gone, he picked up the armor and dragon materials on his counter, and carried them into his back room, getting right to work on the upgrades I asked for.

X

And just like that, me and my two companions were back on the streets of Melromarc, but before heading to the church, where the dragon hourglass was located, we all decided to stop and grab some lunch. The many food stalls in the city gave us plenty of options to choose from, as I pulled out my money pouch again as soon as we arrived on a street filled with them. After mulling it over, the three of us ended up settling on a round of meat skewers, some potatoes with cheese, some drinks, and a few donuts, which instantly made Roxanne get a big smile on her face, and caused her tails to start swaying right after she took the first bite of hers.

However, the very moment we finished our meal, Roxanne's ears started twitching again. She quickly narrowed her eyes, put a hand on the handle of her sword, and whispered to me and Plum, as she slowly turned her gaze down a seemingly empty alleyway. "Lord Damian, our stalkers are back."

I knew what this meant, and raised my guard right away, narrowing my eyes slightly as well. "Their certainly persistent ones. Now that we're all together, I think we should try confronting them. Whoever or whatever they are, we can take em."

Roxanne nodded in agreement, as me and her both got up from our seats at the outdoor table we ate our lunch at. "Ill take the lead. Their presences are coming in clearer then before. Its almost like their not even trying to hide anymore."

While me and Roxanne were preparing ourselves for battle, Plum looked at us with confusion all over her face. "Uhhh...Who are you two talking about? Is someone after us?"

"Yeah, the king of this city, and pretty much everyone affiliated with his royal pain in the assness." I answered Plum with a little joke, but still remained focused on the matter at hand. "These might be associates of his Plum. They were stalking me and Roxanne earlier, and it looks like their back for round two, but we've got em this time."

"Right. So follow me and try to stay quiet." Roxanne added, then took off down the alleyway, doing her best to move as fast as possible, while remaining as silent as she could.

Me and Plum were quick to follow her lead, and her example, trying to keep up with her and not make a sound. Fortunately, all the noise of the people on the busy city streets was good cover, as we all continued to close in on our potential foes.

After several twists and turns, Roxanne informed us that our yet to be seen stalkers were just around the next corner. I raised my shield, and Plum clenched her fists, as we both did our best to ready ourselves for anything.

Once we all felt ready, we all ran around the corner, but were very surprised and confused to find that there was no one there. Not a single living soul. Even so, Roxanne snapped out of that state quickly, still sensing the presences of five living beings close by. "Don't let your guard down. Either of you. They're here." She informed me and Plum, doing her very best to pinpoint the exact location of our stalkers.

Just then, Plum suddenly sensed the emotions of the five unseen beings, and was able to lock onto them in seconds. "Ah! Over there!" Quickly following the scent, Plum turned around just in time to see five cloaked beings.

They had appeared from out of nowhere, and each one wore a long dark cloak that covered their entire bodies, as well as some masks that completely covered their heads and faces. The cloaks they wore were black as a moonless knight, with green bands around each wrist, and a green shield emblem on the foreheads of their masks.

Me and Roxanne quickly turned towards these mysterious beings as well, as I held my shield out to them, and Roxanne drew her sword. _"How the hell did they do that? They slipped passed Roxanne's senses, and appeared behind us without a sound. Just who are these guys?" _I thought to myself, not sure what to make of these cloaked beings at all.

However, none of us expected what happened next. All five of the cloaked beings bowed before us, and the one at the front of their little group spoke the words Id waited years to hear. "We live to serve thee, demon lord of the shield. Damian Abyss."

This caught all of us completely by surprise, as we all looked down at the five mysterious beings before us in sheer disbelief. After a full minute of silence, it was Roxanne who finally asked what all three of us were thinking. "I-I'm sorry...Come again?"

"We live to serve our demon lord. We will carry out his will. We have come to offer you our aid in the next wave of catastrophe lord Damian. It is an honor to finally meet and talk to you." The same cloaked being as before answered Roxanne's question, and his answer surprised me, Roxanne, and Plum even more. "We represent a new faith. One that was born from you, and everything that you stand for lord Damian. Our founder has sent us here to make you this offer."

After taking some time to process this, I responded to the words of the cloaked being in front of me and my party. "Wait a minute, I have my own legion of followers now? Awesome!" A big smile appeared on my face, as I started to get very excited, but I managed to maintain my cool, as I began to question these followers of mine. "So then, was that you stalking me and Roxanne before?"

"Yes, indeed. Please forgive us for startling you and your companion lord Damian. We had to get you alone so we could talk. There are far too many prying, human eyes on the open streets, especially in this city. We are well aware of your relationship with the king of this city. He and his followers are all vile and revolting human beings to say the least." The cloaked being answered me without hesitation or doubt, keeping his head down, just like his four associates.

"Wait, does that mean the five of you aren't human? Because the magic power I'm sensing from you doesn't feel human. At least, not entirely human." Roxanne pointed out, having never sensed any magic power like this before.

"You are correct. We were human once, but our founder rid us of our weak human forms after we joined her cause. Observe." All five cloaked beings moved their masks just enough to show us their mouths, and that's when me and my companions saw some very prominent fangs sticking out of their mouths.

Just one look, and even I knew what these five beings were, despite not being from this world originally. "You're vampires."

"Yes, though I regret to say our vampiric blood is not pure. You see, our founder is the only true vampire among us. She was truly moved and inspired by your actions and beliefs lord Damian, as are we all. As such, she formed a whole new religion dedicated to serving you. And she did so with only one rule. Humans are forbidden from joining our religion. So, anytime a human wishes to join, she bites them, turning them into a lower ranked vampire. We may lack the powers of a true vampire, but we have spent a great deal of time honing our skills so that we could be of use to you lord Damian." The cloaked vampire out in front explained to me, as he and his friends all covered their mouths with their masks again.

"I've heard stories about this lord Damian. Vampires are a species of demi-human that can create others out of humans, though these vampire/human hybrids are nowhere near as powerful or inhuman looking as the real thing. They have the fangs, can suck blood, and possess a small affinity for the magic of the true vampire that turned them, but that's about it." Roxanne clarified for me, putting her sword back into its sheath for now.

"Their feelings of loyalty and dedication are true lord Damian. I don't think their lying to us at all." Plum added, still sensing the emotions of the five cloaked vampires as clear as day.

As I listened to the words of my dear companions, I started to lower my guard as well, and began to do some heavy thinking on the matter. _"Hmmm...So some female vampire somewhere has a thing for me. I'm extremely flattered, and a little bummed out that she didn't come to meet with me herself. Her religion sounds more like a cult to me, but honestly, the more humans that wanna give up being human just to serve me, the better I say. Still, I feel like I should test these guys somehow, and get some more information from them."_

I thought about how to proceed for a good ten minutes, then an idea came to me, along with a few more questions. "Okay, if I'm gonna trust you, you'll have to answer some questions for me. First, why did you founder come to see me herself if she believes in me so much? Second, how exactly did you all manage to hide yourselves from us and appear out of nowhere like you did? Third, why do you wear those cloaks? And fourth, why did your founder only send five of you? Why not more?"

"Firstly, our founder truly does wish to meet you in person lord Damian, but as I'm sure you can imagine, managing a whole religion is a full time job. Secondly, we have our founder to thank for our abilities. Her magical affinity is spatial magic, and she is very gifted at using it. Since she gave us part of her power when she bit us, we possess a degree of spatial magic as well, though we can only use it to distort space around ourselves to hide ourselves from others, and teleport over short distances. Thirdly, these are simply the uniforms our founder chose for us. Their made from magic thread, and as such, have good resistances to magic attacks. And finally, please forgive us lord Damian. We would've sent more, but our religion is still fairly new. We were all that could be spared at this time." The head vampire answered every single one of my questions truthfully, and I had Plum confirm that for me.

"I see. Well then, you can prove your loyalty to me by buying this accessory from me for 150 silver coins right here and now." I spoke my terms to the team of vampire hybrids, pulling a leftover accessory out of my bag, and showing it to them. "I made it myself, but it didn't sell. If you buy it, Ill agree to let you fight with us. Do we have a deal?"

Upon hearing my terms, all five of the cloaked vampires looked up at me, seeing the accessory. "Oh yes. It would be a true honor to buy something made by your hand lord Damian. We had already planned on giving you an offering anyway." The head vampire reached into his cloak, then pulled out a bag containing what looked to be far more then 150 silver coins, presenting it to me.

Me and my companions were a bit surprised by this at first, but I still accepted the offering from the vampire, and put the accessory in his hand, completing our agreement. "How much is this?"

Before answering me, the head vampire, as well as his fellow vampires, took a moment to admire the accessory like it was the greatest gift he'd ever received in his entire life. "We are truly grateful to you for this gift lord Damian. As for the offering, its 500 silver coins. Much like ourselves, we wanted to give you more, but this was all we could spare at this time."

"500 silver coins?!" Roxanne questioned with shock. Granted, it was far from the most money she'd seen at one time, but it was definitely the most she'd seen anyone pay for a single accessory, even if that's not really what the vampires said it was for. After taking a deep breath and calming herself down, Roxanne looked down at the team of vampires with some disbelief in her eyes. "That's very generous of you, but are you sure you wouldn't rather use this money to further develop your religion or get some better equipment for yourselves or something?"

"You need not worry about our religion or our equipment. Our founder will ensure our religion's growth and prosperity, and our equipment is perfectly fine as is. Please. We insist that you keep it all lord Damian." The head vampire said to me, putting the accessory I gave him around his neck without a moment of hesitation. "So then, does this mean you'll allow us to fight with you?"

As I gave his question a few more seconds of thought, I put the money they gave me into my bag, then turned back to then, and gave them a nod and a grin. "Yes. Your offering has been accepted, and I, demon lord Damian Abyss, will allow you to accompany me, Roxanne, and Plum into battle when the next wave arrives." Still feeling excited about having my own followers, I decided to strike my demon lord pose for them, and give them the same performance I give everyone I meet for the first time.

Hearing this, all five of the vampires started to get excited as well, and quickly bowed to me once more. "Thank you lord Damian! This is truly exciting! We swear to serve you to the very best of our abilities, and will not fail you!"

"Good. I don't put my trust in just anyone ya know." I stop doing my pose, and added them all to my party for now. Upon doing so, their names and status bars appeared on my status screen, so I took a moment to look them over. Apparently, the head vampire was level 36, while two of his teammates were both level 35, and the last two were levels 32 and 31. I also noticed that two of them were mages, while the remaining three were all skilled with swords and knives. "Make no mistake though. If you cross me, or even think about betraying me, Roxanne, or Plum, I swear Ill make your entire religion regret it." I lost my grin as I spoke those words to them, speaking in a very serious tone.

"None of us would ever even think about doing such things lord Damian. That is blasphemy of the highest caliber in our religion!" The head vampire said to me in an equally serious tone, keeping his head down as he spoke.

I once again had Plum confirm his feelings for me, then I addressed my new teammates once more. "I'm pleased to hear that. Now, me, Roxanne, and Plum have a few more things to take care of today. Since you've been watching us so closely, I assume you know where our carriage is. Leave us now, and meet us at our carriage at sunset. We'll start talking strategy then."

"As you wish lord Damian. We will take our leave now. Farewell." The head vampire responded to my words, then in the blink of an eye, he and all four of his fellow cloaked vampires disappeared without so much as a trace left behind.

Plum started smiling right away, looking and sounding very happy with the events that had just unfolding before her eyes. "This is so great lord Damian! Now we have more allies!"

"Yes, but can we really trust them? According to Plum, their feelings were genuine, and of course I trust her judgment, but what if their founder's intentions aren't so pure?" Roxanne commented, not fully trusting our new allies or their religion just yet.

Despite my obvious levels of joy, it was the same for me, as I expressed my personal opinion to my trusted companions. "I admit, its nice to know that some vampire girl somewhere admires me so much that she started a cult for me, because that's what it sounded like to me, but I'm with you Roxanne. This vampire girl may very well have some kind of ulterior motive in all of this that not even her recruits know about. I mean, with just a small amount of her power, those five were able to almost complete hide from even your senses Roxanne. That implies that this vampire girl is even more skilled at hiding her presence from others. For all we know, she could be watching us right now."

Hearing this, Roxanne and Plum both started to feel a little uneasy. Both of them started to slowly look around nervously, their senses turned up as high as they could go.

It wasn't my intention to put my companions on edge though, so after a quick flinch, I gave them a smile, attempting to calm them down. "Don't worry girls. I'm sure that's not the case. I'm sorry to have made things tense. For all we know, we could just be overthinking all of this, and this vampire girl could really be someone who truly admires us, and wants to give us a hand, in her own way."

Thankfully, my companions both listened to me, and let out simultaneous sighs of relief, calming themselves back down. Granted, none of us had anyway of knowing what the true story was with this demon lord cult, or if their founder may be plotting something else, but for the time being, all three of us agreed to at least give our five new recruits a chance to prove themselves.

And now, with that matter sorted out, we all turned our attention back to the next item of business on our checklist. After making our way back out of the alleyways, we once again headed off on our way to Melromarc's church with two goals in mind. To find out when the next wave of catastrophe would be, and to get Roxanne and Plum some class upgrades.

X

It didn't take us long to reach the church after that, and the first thing I noticed when we arrived was the three pillars on top of it. Each one was a different color. Red, blue, and yellow. And each one had a different statue on top. A spear, a sword, and a bow.

I scoffed the very moment I saw this, rolling my eyes as I thought to myself. _"Really? The people of this city are worshipping them like gods now? And they call me delusional." _I was well aware of the reasons there was no shield statue present on the church, just like how I knew the three cardinal stooges were probably eating this up, causing their egos to grow even bigger then they already were. _"Oh well. Like the saying goes. Pride cometh before the fall. And I'm positive my lord Lucifer will enjoy dragging them down to hell when that day comes. I only hope I'm there to watch." _I laughed to myself a little as I thought all of that, then me and my girls reluctantly headed inside the church.

Once we were inside, we headed for the dragon hourglass as fast as we could, being that neither me nor Roxanne had any desire to be there any longer then absolutely necessary. However, when we reached the dragon hourglass, we were stopped by a group of three holy sisters of the church, who informed us that it would cost fifteen gold coins per person in order to get Roxanne and Plum's class upgrades.

"Fifteen gold coins?! That is ridiculous!" I declared right away, glaring up at the three nuns. Roxanne was quick to glare up at them in anger too, while Plum just looked shocked, thinking about all the food we could buy with that money. Then, one look at the middle nun's smirking face told me that this was definitely the king's doing, and that the three cardinal stooges likely didn't have to pay nearly this much, or anything at all to get their party's their class upgrades.

With that in mind, I began to quickly weight the pros and cons to this situation in my head. On one hand, while the price was steep, we did still have enough money on hand to afford it, but it would end up costing us far more then I originally planned for. And on the other hand, if we didn't pay their ridiculous fee, Roxanne and Plum would both be stuck at level 40 for who knows how long. Not to mention, the king would likely get a smug sense of self satisfaction if his plan ended up working, and we walked out of here with nothing to show for it. And just like that, one thought about Aultcray's smug face was all the incentive I needed to reach for my money pouch.

"So then, that would be thirty gold pieces of both of my companions to get class upgrades, right?" I asked the nun, walking up the stairs leading to the dragon hourglass, ready to give her the money. I simply refused to give Aultcray the satisfaction, and I also knew that if me and my party got stronger, we could easily make this money back during the next wave. Plus, once the three of us were finally strong enough, and had more allies, we could also use our new strength to kick Aultcray right off of his throne. So, with all of that in mind, it was really no contest for me. Id made up my mind. "C'mon girls. We're getting you those class upgrades, and no insane fee is gonna stop us."

Roxanne and Plum were a little unsure about this at first, but they trusted me just as much as I trusted them, and began to follow me up the stairs without question. Without even having to ask, both of them knew that I don't make rash decisions, and that Id likely thought this issue through plenty well enough before opening my mouth.

As soon as she heard my words, the middle nun lost her smirk, and started to look rather shocked, like she wasn't expecting me to actually be willing to pay the ludicrous amount of money she'd asked for. Once I reached the top stair, I held a bag containing the thirty gold coins out to her, and she took a single step back from me, but then slowly held out her hands to accept it from me.

"Our apologies, we have made a mistake." Just before me and the holy sister could complete the transaction, an older sister stepped out from behind one of the columns in the room, and suddenly changed the rules on us again. "I'm sorry, but we are forbidden from providing upgrades to the shield hero's team. Its a direct order from his majesty." She explained to all of us, as she pulled out a scroll, and opened it to reveal that it was indeed an official royal decree.

All eyes fell on the older nun and the royal decree she held in her hands after that, as me and my party were once again shocked by this very sudden turn of events. And the more I tried to think of a way out of this, the more nuns and priests I noticed entering the room, as I found myself thinking back to my first duel with Motoyasu, remembering the pope and a lot of his followers being in attendance that night.

After letting out a grunt, I put the smaller bag containing the thirty gold coins back into my bag, then walked back down the stairs. "C'mon girls, we're leaving."

I walked passed Roxanne and Plum, and they were quick to follow me out. However, before exiting the room, Roxanne shot a very threatening glare at the older nun, looking her straight in the eye while doing so.

As we made it back outside the church, Plum was starting to look a little disappointed, but Roxanne still managed to stay positive, looking at me and speaking to me in a knowing tone. "This isn't over, is it lord Damian?"

"Oh, that's what they think Roxanne, but I've got a plan. Its like I told you on the night of my duel with Motoyasu my dear kitsune. Sometimes when people play dirty, ya gotta play dirty back. Follow me." Not wanting anyone to hear what we were up to, I lead my companions to a nearby alleyway, slowly but surely getting my grin back.

Once we were alone, Plum tilted her head at me and Roxanne in her usual confused manner. "I'm assuming you two have some kind of plan. Could you please let me in on it?"

"Of course Plum. We're getting your class upgrades, and we're gonna get em for free." I informed my party members, absolutely positive that the plan I had in mind would work like a charm.

Plum looked at me with wide eyes for a few seconds, not having even the slightest idea of how we were going to pull that off. "That'd be fantastic lord Damian, but how are we supposed to do that?"

In order to answer her question, I turned my gaze toward Roxanne, and started to explain my plan by asking her a few questions. "Roxanne, remember when you used your illusion magic to imitate Malty earlier? Do you think you could do that again, but with a different person this time?"

And just like that, Roxanne already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted her to do, getting a grin of her own on her face. "How could I forget something like that? And yes, of course I can lord Damian. Now that I have five tails, I can easily hold my illusions for longer periods of time. So what did you have in mind?"

Me and Roxanne grinned at each other, feeling very confident about this plan, while Plum continued to look at us with rising levels of confusion. "Uhhh...I'm glad you two are happy, but can one of you please fill me in on the plan? I still don't get it."

Roxanne and I spent the next several minutes filling Plum in and discussing our plan further. Once we were all clear on the details, we waited about thirty minutes, then put our plan into action.

What happened next drew the attention of everyone who was present on the streets outside the church. Stepping out onto the scene was me, Roxanne, and Plum, accompanied by king Aultcray himself, along with a small squad of his knights.

At least, that's what the people were seeing. In reality, the Roxanne walking alongside me and Plum was nothing more then an illusion, and so were the knights for that matter. Additionally, king Aultcray was actually Roxanne in disguise. She'd used her illusion magic on herself to make herself look exactly like the king, down to the last detail.

Many citizens looked on in awe, bowing as soon as they saw "their king", while others just looked confused, wondering why Aultcray was walking with me and my party so casually. Still, no one bothered walking up to us to ask questions. Partly because they were all having a hard time processing this, and partly because the citizens of Melromarc seemed to have complete faith in their king and his judgement.

I glanced around at the crowd and smirked as me and my party headed back inside the church, seeing that the plan was working. And as much as I would've enjoyed milking this whole scenario, I knew that Roxanne couldn't maintain an illusion like this one forever, even with her five tails. So rather then waste time, we all headed straight back to the room where the dragon hourglass was kept, knowing that things would be very different this time around.

As soon as we stepped into the room, we saw that all of the nuns from before were still present, and all of them were very surprised to see "their king" of all people. "King Aultcray! What brings you here your majesty?" The elder nun from before, the one in possession of the royal decree was the first one to speak up, bowing before us, as all of her fellow nuns followed suit.

Me and my party came to a stop in front of them, and Roxanne cleared her throat before speaking, doing her very best to sound like the real Aultcray. Which, as one would expect, wasn't perfect. "As I'm sure you recall, I gave you a royal decree, stating that the shield hero and his party were forbidden from accessing the dragon hourglass."

All the nuns looked up at "their king" again once "he'd" finished speaking, and the elder nun got a concerned look on her face. "Well yes, of course we remember your majesty, but are you feeling okay? You don't sound like yourself today."

Hearing this, Roxanne started to glare at all the nuns, letting her temper show for just a moment. "Since you asked, no! I am not feeling well! I believe I'm coming down with a cold, probably because I've been forced to leave the safety and comfort of my castle all day to go around the city and inform idiots like you that the shield hero and his party are no longer our enemies! And as such, have every right to use the dragon hourglass!"

Her words caused all the nun's to flinch, and start to panic a little bit too. "B-But you gave us this royal decree just a few days ago, and told us that it was absolute your majesty."

"Well I was acting extremely foolish and irrational when I made the decision to do that! However, my sweet little daughter, Melty has finally returned home, and the two of us had a long talk this morning about the shield hero. Melty has made me realize that the shield hero and his party are our kingdom's greatest heroes, and our best hope of stopping the waves of catastrophe. I let my past experiences and personal feelings cloud my judgement. As such, effective immediately, I am giving you a new set of orders. You are to burn that royal decree at once, and allow the shield hero and his party full access to the dragon hourglass, and they may do so free of charge. We need them at full strength if this kingdom is to survive another wave. Have I made myself clear?" Roxanne spoke to the holy sisters in a very stern tone, mentally laughing at the fact that they were buying her performance so willingly.

The nuns exchanged a few glances, still very confused, but not a single one of them could think of any reason to distrust "their king". So the elder nun nodded her head at Roxanne, and bowed to her once more. "We understand your majesty. We will carry out your orders without question. Now please head back to the castle and get some rest. I insist."

"I shall, but first, all of you clear the room! The shield hero and his party wish to receive their class upgrades alone! I don't want anyone peaking into this room while they do so either! If anyone is caught peaking or listening in on this room, they will be executed on the spot!" Roxanne gave the nuns one more command, not wanting any prying eyes or ears around when she brings her illusions to an end.

"Yes, as you wish your majesty. Everyone, leave the room at once! We shall return after the shield hero and his party's work here is complete!" The elder nun said to her fellow nuns, and within seconds, the room was empty, except for me, Roxanne, Plum, and Roxanne's illusions.

Once the three of us were sure all the nuns and priests were gone, another smirk appeared on my face, as I snickered a little to myself. "Idiots. Very nicely done Roxanne." I turned to the fake king, complementing my dear kitsune on a job well done.

Plum did the same right away, giving Roxanne a big smile. "That was so cool Roxanne! You really fooled them!"

With the coast clear, Roxanne brought all of her illusions to an end. Her doppelganger vanished, as did all the knights, and she transformed back into herself, smiling back at me and Plum. "Thanks lord Damian. You too Plum. But it really doesn't take much to fool those stupid humans."

Her words made me laugh a little more, then I turned my attention towards the dragon hourglass, grinning at it. "True that, but lets do what we came here for before they come back."

Roxanne and Plum both nodded at me, then we all walked up the steps leading to the dragon hourglass. Once we reached the top, my two companions stepped forward, slowly placing one hand each on the dragon hourglass.

The hourglass started to shine brilliantly, as the words "CLASS UP" appeared in the middle of my status screen while I watched my dear companions choose their class upgrades. About a minute later, both of them started to glow, and when the light finally died back down, the gold stars next to their status bars vanished, and my status screen showed me how much all of their stats had improved. "Wow. That didn't take long, and your new stats are incredible girls. Tell me, how do you feel?"

Before answering me, Plum looked herself over, checking to see if anything was different, which is wasn't. "Well, I think I did that right, but the dragon hourglass only gave me one option. And I don't really feel like anything is different."

This caught me by surprise, and confused me a little. "Only one? That's odd. Still, the stats don't lie. That definitely worked for you Plum. You too Roxanne. Did you get the upgrade you wanted?"

Roxanne turned to me and nodded, looking very satisfied with the results of her upgrade. "No problems here lord Damian. I didn't get as many choices as I thought I would, but I still got the one that I wanted none the less."

I smiled, happy to hear that, but still had plenty of questions about how this whole class upgrade thing worked. However, I pushed those aside for the time being, and looked up at the dragon hourglass, focusing on it. Seconds after I did, the timer appeared at the top of my status screen, showing me the countdown to the next wave. "Looks like we got these class upgrades at a good time. We have about three days until the next wave hits."

With that time frame in mind, Roxanne clenched her fists, starting to look a little uneasy. She did her best not to let it show, but both me and Plum could tell just by looking at her what was on her mind.

So, to try and put her mind at ease, I walked over to her, and gently grabbed one of her fists with my hand. "We're going to find and save Sasha. Depending on where she is now, we might not be able to get to her before the next wave, but if that's the case, I promise you that we'll leave for her location as soon as we're all finished recovering after the next wave Roxanne."

"Yeah, that's right. So please don't be sad Roxanne. We'll all survive this wave, and reunite you and Sasha no matter what comes our way." Plum added, giving Roxanne the warmest and most reassuring smile she could muster.

As she listened to us, Roxanne slowly unclenched her fists, and smiled back at us. "Thanks you two. I needed that. Now, lets head over to Beloukas' tent and finally find out where Sasha is."

I nodded at her, let go of her hand, then turned to leave with my companions. "Good call Roxanne. Before we go and discuss this any further, lets actually find out where our missing hakuko friend is located."

"Any friend of Roxanne's is a friend of ours too!" Plum declared with a big smile on her face, as the three of us proceeded to make our back out of the church once more.

Thankfully, we made it outside without any difficulties, though we did notice a good number of citizens looking around with confusion all over their faces, wondering where king Aultcray had disappeared to. After the three of us shared a few laughs at these results, we hit the road once again, bound for Beloukas' establishment.

X

It had been a while since we'd seen Beloukas, and while his business wasn't marked down on any map, I didn't have any trouble remembering where it was at all. Despite its rather shady reputation, it was still how I met Roxanne and Plum, and that alone made my opinion of Beloukas a little brighter then my opinion of most other humans. Just a little though.

Once the three of us arrived at the slave trader's tent, we wasted no time, and headed inside straight away. After we took our first several steps inside, me and Roxanne were a little surprised to see that the majority of the cages were empty, as opposed to our last visit, when the inside of the tent was filled almost to the brim with all manner of demi-human and beastman species.

"Oh, if it isn't sir shield hero, back again I see." Beloukas said to me the moment he saw me enter his tent, his usual smile spread across his face. He was already standing fairly close to the one and only entrance when me and my party entered his place of business, and walked over to greet us right away. "How can I help you on this fine day?"

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all looked down at the short man once he stopped in front of us, as I spoke up and addressed him. "I remember this place being a lot more packed the last time we were here. You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself as of late."

"And its all thanks to you, if I may be so blunt. Yes, your traveling trade has been extremely profitable for me, as well as you yourself. Thank you so much." Beloukas responded to me, then gave me a bow of gratitude.

Growing curious, I raised an eyebrow at him, not really sure what he was talking about. "I'm not really sure what your business has to do with us. Elaborate."

The slave trader stopped bowing, then turned his gaze toward Plum, as he began his explanation. "Your earth dragon and potential dragon empress has gained quite the reputation you see. Nobles from every corner of Melromarc have contacted me, asking how they can procure one of their very own. Its all quite extraordinary actually."

Plum was rather surprised to hear all of this, completely unaware that she'd earned herself a reputation, let alone one like that. "Is that really true? I had no idea. I hope all those other dragons you've sold went to good homes."

Beloukas immediately turned his gaze toward Roxanne after that, looking and sounding even more excited as he spoke to her. "And then there's you, my dear little fox. You've helped my business gain quite the reputation for providing high quality slaves, and the money just doesn't stop rollin in." He let out some excited laughter once he was done speaking, giving Roxanne and Plum some bows of gratitude as well.

However, Roxanne just glared at the short man a little, not looking or sounding very amused by his words or actions. "Listen you little freak, I have absolutely no interest in helping you line your pockets, and you'd better hope none of those demi-humans or beastmen you sold are suffering right now, or else." She threatened the slave trader, putting a hand on the handle of her sword and drawing it slightly. "Also, don't ever call me your dear little fox. Only lord Damian gets to call me things like that."

Seeing this, Beloukas flinched right away, then quickly turned back to me, clearing his throat and managing to maintain his composure. "Anyway, lets move on, shall we? What is it that you'd like from me today? Another slave? Or perhaps another monster egg?"

As always, I was extremely happy to hear a girl as beautiful as Roxanne say what she just did about me, but I didn't let it distract me, as I remained focused on the matter at hand. "Actually, we're here for some information this time. Since your business has been doing so well, I'm guessing you're the only slave trader in the area. So if anyone has the answers we're looking for, its gotta be you." I answered him, but chose to keep my answer kind of vague at first.

"Information you say? Well, I cant guarantee Ill have the answers you seek, but yes. I am the one and only slave trader in the entire kingdom of Melromarc. So, what exactly is it that you're looking for?" Beloukas asked me, turning and leading us further into his establishment as he did so.

Me and my companions followed him, as I answered him once again. "We're looking for a demi-human named Sasha. She's a hakuko, and was taken from her home about five years ago. We think she might've been sold to you after that. We wanna know exactly who brought her, and where we can find them."

"A hakuko girl?" Beloukas took a moment to think back to a time about five years in the past, and he didn't need to do so for very long. "Ah yes, I definitely remember a demi-human that fits your description. Of course, hakukos are very rare. Even in a shop like mine, I don't get very many of them, so its only natural that I remember the one and only hakuko I've had in my shop in the last five years or so. She was a real fighter too. It took all five of the adventurers who brought her in to get her chained up and into a cage. So much strength and ferocity at such a young age, and she kept yelling too, saying that her kitsune friend would come to save her one day."

All of this information made Roxanne gasp, and get a little frantic too. "That's her! That's Sasha! I knew she'd been through here!" She then gained a more threatening tone, glaring at the back of Beloukas' head, as the three of us continued to follow him to his office. "Where is she?! Tell us now, or I swear Ill-"

I quickly put a hand on Roxanne's shoulder, stopping her and calming her down a bit. "Easy Roxanne. Me and Plum know how important this is to you, but please try to keep your cool, okay?"

Hearing my words, and feeling my touch, Roxanne took a single deep breath, calming herself back down in seconds. "Sorry about that lord Damian."

I gave my beloved kitsune a smile, shaking my head a few times. "No need to be sorry Roxanne. You're fine." After that, I turned back to Beloukas, losing my smile. "Now then, it sounds like you have the information we came here for. So start talkin."

"Yes indeed. I have what you're looking for. I make it a point to hold onto receipts and documents of all the customers I've had throughout the years. Ordinarily, I also make it a point to keep the identity's of my buyers secret, or at the very least I would charge you for it, but since its you whose asking, Id be happy to make an exception and tell you for free." Being that we'd helped his business grow so much, Beloukas seemed more then willing to help us out, though Roxanne's threats might've also been a good incentive for him as well.

Once we made it to Beloukas' office, me and my party waited about five minutes while the slave trader looked through his old documents. After he found the ones we asked for, he walked over to the table in the middle of his office, placed them on it, and opened them up, as me and my companions gathered around to see the documents for ourselves.

Beloukas took a moment to read them over, as more memories of the day in question came back to him. "Ah yes. Your hakuko friend was purchased by a Melromarc nobleman by the name of Idol Rabier, along with several other young demi-humans."

I couldn't help letting out a sigh when I heard this information, with an annoyed expression present on my face. "Just our luck. It had to be a noble." I said in a sarcastic tone, already knowing that this guy, like all royalty and nobles of Melromarc, had to hate my guts, and would therefore be unlikely to give us Sasha willingly. Be that as it may, that wasn't about to stop me or my companions. "So where is this guy? And what can ya tell us about him?"

"Well, like most royalty and noblemen of Melromarc, Idol looks down on demi-humans, and uses them as slaves. As his name implies, he's the governor of the Rabier Territory, which is located here." Beloukas explained to me, Roxanne, and Plum, pulling out a map, and pointing out the Rabier Territory's location for us.

"So he's a typical noble asshole then. Got it. So, how long do you think it'll take us to reach his territory?" I asked another question, hoping that the answer would be something favorable to us.

"Traveling by carriage, it would take you about three days to reach Idol's castle." Beloukas answered me once again, and all three of us knew what this meant.

With only three days until the next wave of catastrophe, there was no way we'd be able to make it to Idol's territory and retrieve Sasha. Me, Roxanne, and Plum all knew that the moment the next wave hit, we'd all be forcibly transported to the location of it, whether we wanted to go or not. Plus, given how most royalty and noblemen treat their demi-human slaves, it was a safe bet that if Sasha was still alive, she would be in absolutely no shape to fight.

As all of this information went through our minds, Roxanne slowly looked down, and clenched her fists so hard that her hands were shaking. She also grit her teeth, and didn't say a word, looking more frustrated then ever before.

Me and Plum turned to her right away, and started looking at her with high levels of concern on our faces. We both knew that of the three of us, she was definitely taking this the hardest, and Plum could sense that her concern for her sister-at-arms was definitely growing.

However, before either of us could say anything to her, Roxanne suddenly looked at us again, with renewed levels of determination in her eyes, and in her voice. "Lord Damian, Plum, I have no idea what this next wave will throw at us, but we've survived and beaten plant monsters, a dragon zombie, and plenty more. So lets get through this next wave as quickly as possible, then get to Sasha as fast as we can."

Both me and Plum were a bit surprised to see how well Roxanne was handling this, not that either of us were complaining of course. We both quickly matched her look of pure determination, and I gave her a grin and a nod as I responded to her. "Of course we will. Well said Roxanne."

"Yeah! When the three of us fight as one, there's no stopping us!" Plum declared with a big smile on her face, raising her fist high into the air.

It was easy for Beloukas to see the strong determination and comradery the three of us shared, so once he had the chance, he spoke up again, regaining the attention of all three of us. "If I may, since you're all so gung-ho about this, there is still one more thing I can do for you that should come in handy during the next wave. If you're interested, I can equip your dragon empress with a weapon that I believe would be perfect for her."

"Huh? A weapon for me?" Plum tilted her head as she looked at Beloukas, wondering what he had in mind for her.

Rather then explain, Beloukas thought it would be better to show us. So he quickly put his map and documents away, then moved to his stockpile of weapons, and began looking through them for the weapon he had in mind for Plum. It didn't take him very long to find them, as he pulled them out, and turned, showing them to us. "Dragon Nails. Pretty slick, huh?" The slave trader held a pair of claw type weapons out to us, his usual smile spread across his face the whole time.

Each claw had exactly four claws in total, and each one was razor sharp, looking exactly like the kind of claws you'd see on a fully grown dragon. Her curiosity rising, Plum slowly grabbed the claws from Beloukas, and put them on her hands, getting a feel for them. "They feel...right to me."

As soon as she put them on, I noticed that Plum's attack stat rose by quite a bit. That alone told me that these Dragon Nails would definitely be of use to us, so I turned back to Beloukas, and asked him yet another question. "We'll take em. How much are they?"

"In light of your continued patronage, Ill offer you the exceptional, once in a lifetime price of five gold pieces." The slave trader answered me yet again, holding his hand and all five fingers on it up to me.

Before responding, I decided to try haggling with him, and held up my hand right back to him, with only four fingers raised though. "Lets make it four, and Ill be paying you in silver coins."

Seeing and hearing this from me, Beloukas' smile got even bigger, as he started to laugh a little as well. "Its a deal. I've gotta hand it to you sir shield hero, you've grown into just the kind of man that I adore. You make my spine tingle!" With his excitement rising, he turned, running over to where he kept his money.

"Not sorry, but your definitely not my type!" I yelled to him, making a little joke, then I reached into my bag to retrieve the money I owed him for Plum's new weapon.

At the same time, Plum removed her Dragon Nails, since she wasn't using them, and attached them to the sides of her waist. "I do like them, but I hope they weren't made from the claws of a real dragon."

"Don't worry Plum. I'm sure that's just a name." Roxanne assured her, noting that while the Dragon Nails did look real appearance wise, they looked to be made of some kind of metal or magic metal, like her sword.

Once Beloukas returned to me, I paid him with a total of 400 silver coins, which adds up to exactly four gold coins. "By the way, is there somethin around here that we could use to test these claws? Like a monster or a training dummy?"

"I'm afraid all the monsters under his tent are merchandise for sale. However, I may have just the thing your looking for." Beloukas said to me, calling to mind some rumors he'd heard floating around the city not too long ago, as he put the money I gave him away with the rest of his money.

His words made me, Roxanne, and Plum all start to grow curious, so we all listened intently to what the slave trader had to say. After receiving a rather surprising tip from him, the three of us thanked him for the information, as well as Plum new weapon, then we all said our goodbyes to him and left his establishment. We all agreed to follow up on the tip he gave us immediately, and thus, we all headed for the closest entrance to the city's underground sewer system.

X

Thankfully, it didn't take us very long to find a way into the city's sewer system. Once we all descended down into it, we closed the entrance above us, and Roxanne made a ball of blue fire appear in her hand to give us some light.

From there, the three of us began to walk through the underground tunnels, making sure to stay close to each other and keep our eyes and ears open. Following up on Beloukas' tip, we accepted a job to hunt a type of monster known as a Cream Alligator that was set loose in Melromarc's sewers by one of its nobles.

"Pew! It stinks down here!" Plum remarked, covering her snout in disgust, as we walked around a corner.

And Roxanne wasn't much better, looking like she'd just driven passed a dead skunk on the side of the road. "This is easily the worst thing I've ever smelled. Lets just kill this thing quick and get the hell out of here."

As for me, I was using my cloak to cover my nose and mouth, not too fond of the smell myself. "This place smells worse then my brother's chicken coop and my sister's cat's litter box put together, but I guess that's to be expected. This is where most of the crap in this kingdom ends up, and having met the ones in charge, we all know that that's a whole lotta crap." Me and Roxanne snickered at my joke, but Plum didn't seem to get it, tilting her head in her usual confused manner.

We all kept moving after that, completely unaware that the monster we'd come to hunt was also hunting us. "It doesn't surprise that there'd be a monster living under this of all kingdoms, but I have to admit, I am a little surprised that one of the three cardinal idiots hasn't taken this job and slain it already. I mean, its just one monster, and this job pays four gold coins. That seems like easy money to me." Roxanne commented, continuing to lead the way, and holding her ball of flame out in front of her as we ventured further into the sewers of Melromarc.

I shrugged at Roxanne's thoughts, then proceeded to offer my own thoughts on the subject. "Maybe so, but Ren probably didn't think that something called a Cream Alligator was worth his time. Itsuki probably didn't think that just one monster alone would be enough to boost his already overinflated ego. And Motoyasu and his team of bimbos probably just didn't wanna set foot in a sewer, even though the self proclaimed princess among them is far more vile then anything down here."

Mere seconds after I finished speaking, the three of us heard the sounds of splashing just ahead of us. "There it is!" Plum yelled out, as we all watched the Cream Alligator emerge from the shallow water and into the light of Roxanne's blue flame, its eyes fixated on us, and its fangs already bared at us as well.

Seeing this, I quickly switched to my Chimera Viper Shield, and held it out in front of me, as I narrowed my eyes right back at the lone monster. "Yup, that's gotta be it. Lets take it down girls!"

At my command, Roxanne dashed off to the left, and Plum dashed off to the right, as they both put their game faces on right away. The Cream Alligator decided to go after me, letting out a loud growl as it swung its tail at me.

I quickly blocked the monster's attack with my shield, taking no damage from it. "Now Snake Fang!" Second after the impact, I activate one of my skills. A pair of snakes emerged from my shield, hissed at the wild monster, then sunk their fangs into the flesh of its tail, causing it to growl in pain, as a great deal of venom was injected into its body. Not that it mattered much, seeing as how the wild monster would be dead in just a few more seconds. "Roxanne!"

"Time to see if all my wind magic lessons paid off. Wind Slicing Sword!" Focusing her magic, Roxanne made a small tornado appear around her sword after she drew it. She then swung her sword at the Cream Alligator from a distance, sending a powerful wind magic cutting attack right at it. Her attack was easily strong enough to slice the monster's tail clean off, making the beast growl out even louder, as it began to flail all around in agony.

The Cream Alligator regained its composure rather quickly though, and turned its attention to Roxanne, swimming right for her, then lunging at her with its jaws wide open. "Oh no you don't!" Fortunately, three on one were some very good odds for us, as Plum came to Roxanne's aid. Plum wasn't very used to fighting in her lizardwoman form just yet, but she still managed to give the monster a good slash to the side of its head with her new Dragon Nails, sending it tumbling down into the shallow water.

While the monster was down, Roxanne seized her chance, and jammed her sword right into its head, just behind one of its eyes. "I've got it pinned down! Finish it off Plum!"

"Thanks Roxanne! Leave it to me!" The monster struggled, trying to free itself from Roxanne's hold, but it was too late. Plum charged in, and with one good swing, sliced the Cream Alligator's body clean in half with one of her claws, bringing its life to an end. "Wow! These nails really are awesome!" Plum said with high levels of excitement in her voice, smiling at her new weapons, then at Roxanne.

Roxanne smiled back at her, putting her sword away, and still managing to keep her single ball of blue flame lit through the entire battle. "I have to say, they really suit you Plum."

"Pardon me ladies." I suddenly spoke up, regaining the attention of my companions. During the fight, both of their attacks sent a great deal of water flying into the air, and I ended up getting drenched in it, not looking very pleased about it one bit.

As soon as Roxanne and Plum saw the state I was in, they both flinched instantly, and started bowing to me in an apologetic way. "Oops...Sorry lord Damian." Plum said to me in a nervous tone, sensing that I wasn't too upset about this though.

"We didn't mean to. It was totally our bad." Roxanne added, scratching the back of her head nervously as she spoke.

Before responding, I let out a sigh, transformed my shield back into its normal form, and wiped some water from my face. "Its okay girls. You both know that its impossible for me to stay mad at you, but as you both can imagine, I really need to clean myself up now. So lets quickly go collect the reward, then get a room at an inn so I can do just that."

Roxanne and Plum both nodded at the same time, eager to get out of the sewers as quickly as possible themselves. However, before leaving, I decided to grab a piece of the Cream Alligator's corpse, and feed it to my shield, wondering what it would give me. I ended up unlocking the Cream Alligator Shield on my upgrade tree, and it came with a skill known as Night Vision. As the name implied, this skill raised my fighting ability at night by improving my vision in the dark, which I figured would definitely come in handy.

I also figured that it was probably okay for us to just leave the monster's dead body where it was. Unlike Ren and the whole dragon zombie situation, a sewer seemed like an okay place to leave a monster's corpse, not that it mattered to any of us if anything bad happened to the city of Melromarc of course. Still, we thought it best to at least bring back a few of its teeth as proof that we killed it like we were hired to do.

And with that, me, Roxanne, and Plum all made our way back to the surface. By the time we made it back to the city streets, the sun had started to set over the city, so we didn't waste any time collecting the reward for this job, then heading to a nearby inn to get ourselves a room, and get ourselves cleaned up after our short and rather unpleasant adventure in the sewers of Melromarc.

However, we didn't end up staying in our room for very long, as we all remembered that we had to head back to our carriage for a strategy meeting with our new vampire helpers. So once we and all of our clothes were clean, we headed back out into the city, returning to our carriage.

True to their word, our vampire teammates were right on time, appearing before us out of thin air in the blink of an eye. And so, the eight of us spent the next two hours or so discussing possible battle strategies we could use during the next wave. We also informed our new teammates that said wave was less then three days away, and they assured us that they would be ready for it, just as me, Roxanne, and Plum would all be.

Once our strategy meeting had concluded, me, Roxanne, and Plum all headed back to our inn of choice for the night for some dinner and some rest. Our newly acquired vampire teammates assured us that they'd keep our carriage and all the goods onboard safe through the night, and while we still didn't fully trust them, we were willing to at least give them a chance.

Not long after we made it back to our inn and had dinner, Roxanne and Plum went straight to bed, but not until after the three of us did our nightly exercise routine, and I exchanged some goodnight kisses with them of course. As for me, I stay awake an extra two hours, continuing my work on some specially crafted accessories for my two favorite girls in this, or any other world.

X

As soon as the following morning came around, me, Roxanne, and Plum all woke up, got ready for the day ahead of us, and had some breakfast at the inn. Once we were done eating, I paid for the meal and our room, then the three of us headed back to our carriage to check on it, and to prepare for our next excursion away from Melromarc. We all decided last night that we'd use the time we had before the next wave to traveling to some towns and villages on the map that we haven't been to yet, continue to spread the word about demon lord Damian Abyss, train and level up as much as we could along the way, maybe make some more cash too, and return to Melromarc just in time for the next wave to meet up with our new team of vampires.

When the three of us arrived at our carriage, we took some time to inspect it, and all the goods onboard, wanting to make sure that nothing was missing. And surprisingly, not a single thing was out of place. The vampires kept their word, guarded our carriage all night, and didn't steal anything. This definitely earned them a few more trust points in my and Roxanne's eyes.

With all of that sorted out, Plum transformed back into her dragon form, and me and Roxanne hooked her back up to the carriage, then climbed aboard ourselves. I grabbed the reins, and Plum started pulling our carriage through the city streets. From there, we stopped at several different shops, and bought everything we thought we'd need for the next wave. Potions, medicine, spare weapons, and plenty more.

Buying the spare weapons brought us back to Erhard's shop, where we also picked up my newly upgraded armor. I re-equipped it right away, and gained yet another boost to my defense as a result. The parts of the armor on my arms, legs, and chest had been reinforced with dragon scales, and Erhard even embedded a piece of the dragon zombie's core into the chest plate. Erhard also informed me that he added an auto repair function to the armor, which only made the grin on my face even bigger then it already was.

Adding the dragon parts to the armor made it make me look like even more of a demon lord then it did before, and I loved it. Roxanne and Plum really seemed to like it too, as they both smiled at me, and Roxanne's tails slowly swayed from side to side as well.

I thanked Erhard for my new armor, he wished us all good luck in the next wave, then me and my companions left the city of Melromarc and began our journey towards new territory. Well, it was new to us anyway.

None of us thought much of it at the time, as we spent almost the entire day traveling and battling nearly every monster we passed. We did end up passing a few small settlements, and the people who lived in them pointed us in the direction of the closest town on the map, but they also informed us that we likely wouldn't be able to make much or any money there.

Rather then ask why that was, the three of us simply decided to keep going, and see for ourselves what those people were talking about. The sun had already started setting by the time we arrived at the town in question, and it seemed normal enough when we all looked at it from a distance.

However, as we got closer, we began to see what the people of the small settlements were talking about. The town was a total wreck. The buildings were run down, the people who lived there looked half starved, and there was little to no plant life growing in or around the town at all.

Before we could get any answers, or even set foot in the town itself, we were stopped at the front gate by a single knight, or what was left of the town's front gate. I showed the knight my merchant pass, but he still refused to let us in, so I ended up having to pay him an entrance fee of two silver coins. Given the state of him and his town, me, Roxanne, and Plum could've easily threatened the knight or fought our way passed him, but as with the plant monsters and dragon zombie, I saw an opportunity with this town. Desperate people are always easy to win over, and both me and Roxanne had a sneaking suspicion that one, or all three of the cardinal stooges were somehow behind the state of this town.

"What a sad looking town, and the people who still live here are even more sad." Plum commented, pulling our carriage through the streets of the town, and sensing the emotions of the few people around us as we went.

"I don't need to be able to sense emotions to know that. The toll to get in here told us pretty much everything." I added, looking around and taking note of several crows circling the center of town.

Roxanne nodded at my words, then said what me and Plum were both already thinking. "This town is done for if it gets attacked during the next wave. What do you wanna do lord Damian?"

I answered her after a full minute of thought, my curiosity peaking. "Lets keep moving. I wanna see if its just this town, or if the mixture of poverty and despair keeps going."

With that, Plum kept moving, eventually leaving the broken town. After a few more hours of traveling, we had to stop, make camp, and have dinner of course. As always, the three of us engaged in our nightly work out routine, then me and Roxanne took turns keeping watch for monsters and thieves that night. And as soon as the sun rose on the following day, we all had ourselves some breakfast, and then it was right back on the road for us.

X

After a few more hours of traveling through some rather desolate looking areas, and fighting a few more monsters, me and my companions arrived in a town that was even worse then the last one we passed through. Even fewer people were living in what was left in it, they were in far worse shape then the people of the previous town, and based on the state of the town, it looked like either a storm, a war, or both had passed through it not too long ago.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all started to wonder what exactly went on there, but our attention was quickly drawn to the small crowd of people that gathered around us mere minutes after we entered their town. Every single person we saw was filthy, malnourished, and each had one random item in their hands. Once again growing curious, I told Plum to stop the carriage, then me and Roxanne exited the carriage and unhooked Plum from it after she did.

"Please sir, Ill trade you this for something to eat." One of the men in the crowd said to me, stepping forward, and offering me a small wooden totem-looking item.

"Looks to me like all you guys have got to offer is a bunch of old junk. Not that I'm surprised, given the state of your town and all." I responded to the man's offer, not showing much pity for him at first, or any of the humans I saw for that matter.

Hearing my words, nearly all the people in the small crowd started to look even more hopeless then they did when they approached me and my party. "Its true. We have absolutely nothing of any real value left at all."

"Wait a minute, does that mean your not citizens of Melromarc then?" Roxanne asked them, as the thought suddenly crossed her mind.

"No. We're refugees. We fled out of the north." The same man from before answered her, as he and several other people began to give us an explanation.

"Some say that an adventurer was apparently sent from Melromarc to put together a resistance for us and begin a revolution, but now we're in this mess." Another man added, then started to look down with despair in his eyes after he finished speaking to us.

Hearing this, me and Roxanne exchanged some looks, starting to get a small sense of deja vu. I then turned back to the humans, and decided to try confirming our suspicions. "Is there anything you can tell us about this adventurer?"

"We don't know much about him, but the rumors say he used a bow." One of the people gave me an answer, and it made both me and Roxanne narrow our eyes slightly, as our suspicions started to grow a bit.

However, our thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a crying child. One of the women in the crowd was holding a baby, and it started crying out of nowhere.

Seeing this, both my and Roxanne's expressions softened a little. We may have hated humans, but it was impossible for either of us to place any kind of blame or hatred on one so young. "Lord Damian?" Roxanne turned to me, already aware of what I was thinking, and asked for confirmation before proceeding herself.

I turned back to her, and gave her a nod. "I might be a demon lord, but I'm not some heartless monster. Lets get a kitchen set up Roxanne."

Roxanne nodded back at me, then rolled up her sleeves, knowing that she'd be doing a lot of cooking in the extremely near future. "Right. Just leave it to me."

Working together, me, Roxanne, and Plum set up a makeshift kitchen right next to our carriage, with everything Roxanne would need all set up and ready to go. Roxanne got straight to cooking after that, using all the food that we could spare to feed the starving humans.

Everyone in the crowd lined up single file, and each accepted a bowl of soup and some bread from me as soon as they reached the front of the line, thanking me and my party for the food with tears of gratitude in their eyes. Naturally, Roxanne did all the cooking, while me and Plum served the food to the people the whole time.

As we did this, I decided to try and get some more information out of the people, and questioned a few of them as they approached. "So, is this everyone in your group?"

The man I asked nodded at me, and gave me another explanation. "I'm afraid so. Everyone else was killed. To be honest, after the revolution, our lives did get a little better, but not for long. The resistance started raising the taxes, just like the lord had done before. I don't know all of the details, but apparently it takes a lot of money to run a country. Now that I think about it, maybe the previous king had the exact same thing in mind."

"Yeah, that sort of thing sounds typical of humans. Enough is never enough for them. In any case, I'm pretty sure I know the name and identity of the adventurer who left you all in such a sorry state." I responded to the man, as images of a certain bow wielding, self-proclaimed hero started running through my mind.

"Really? Your sure? Who is it?" The same man asked me, as all of the other humans gathered around, wanting to hear the answer themselves.

I nodded at them, not completely sure of what I was about to say, but given the track record of the spear and sword heroes, I figured my theory was probably right on anyway. "Oh yeah. I'm sure. His name is Itsuki, and he's one of the four cardinal heroes. The bow hero."

Naturally, this surprised all of the people at first. "Huh? But I thought the four cardinal heroes were supposed to save people and protect the kingdom." A woman in the crowd questioned me, requesting an elaboration.

"You'd think so, but no. You see, the truth is that the sword, spear, and bow heroes are all incompetent morons who always cause more harm then good everywhere they go. The three of us have all seen first hand the damage they've caused for ourselves." Roxanne jumped into the conversation, and went on to tell the starving crowd the stories of Motoyasu and his plant monsters, and Ren and his dragon zombie.

The crowd of people could hardly believe the things they were hearing from us, but between my new armor, the seeds, and the new shields I got from each incident, we had more then enough proof to back up our stories. As the reality of it all slowly sunk in, the entire crowd found themselves deep in thought for about ten minutes, then finally turned their attention back towards me and my party. "...Thank you. All of you. For everything." One of the men said to me, Roxanne, and Plum, but we weren't finished just yet.

"Don't thank us just yet. As with those previous two cases, our help isn't free, but don't worry. We're well aware that you don't have any money, so I'm giving you all the same terms I've given everyone else we've helped in the past." I informed the humans, then gained a grin on my face, and struck my standard demon lord pose before them all. "Starting today, all of you are now under the flag of the demon lord Damian Abyss. And in case I wasn't clear, that's who I am. I'm not sure where you'll all end up settling down, but where ever you end up, always remember that your under the protection of demon lord Damian Abyss. Also, be sure to tell any other people you meet along the way about everything that Itsuki the bow hero put you through, and tell them to spread the word around as much as they can too."

As expected, the people were all a bit shocked at first to hear that I was a demon lord, but after me and my companions fed them a good meal, any concerns they had faded away fairly quickly. Then, after about ten more minutes of discussing my terms amongst themselves, they all turned back to me once again, and the man who continued to act as their leader gave me a nod and a response. "Very well. We give you our support demon lord Damian Abyss."

I stopped my pose, but kept my grin after that. "Good answer, and just for that, Ill give ya this too." I reached into my pocket, pulled out a single seed, and switched to my Bio Plant Shield. I then gave the seed some of my magic, and tossed it onto the ground. In seconds, the seed grew into a decent sized plant, baring fairly large and healthy looking pieces of fruit right away. "With this, you've got more food, and you can use the seeds from the pieces of fruit to grow more plants almost anywhere ya go. Your welcome."

The crowd of people all gasped when they saw this, looking at their new source of food in awe, and some of them even thought that this was all some kind of dream at first. Fortunately for them, it was all very real, and every single one of the people thanked me and my companions for all that we'd done for them for the very bottom of their hearts.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all accepted their thanks, and continued to serve them food for as long as we were able. However, we all knew that it would take us about a day and a half to get back to Melromarc, and that was just about all the time we had before the next wave of catastrophe hit. So after our work was done, we packed up all of our cooking supplies, hooked Plum back up to the carriage, then the three of us headed straight back to Melromarc, as the crowd of people waved goodbye to us until we were out of sight.

_"First Motoyasu, then Ren, and now Itsuki. Strike three, and your out. We may not have made any money this time, and have had to use up a rather large portion of our food supply, but I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end." _I thought to myself with a rather devilish smirk on my face, starting to think about how badly the reputations of the three cardinal stooges will suffer after word of everything they've done is spread around effectively.

X

As expected, it took the three of us roughly another day and a half to make it back to the capital city of Melromarc, and once we re-entered the city, we hide our carriage in a different hiding place then the last one we used. Thanks to all the training we did during our time away from the city, Id risen to level 40, and Roxanne and Plum had both grown to level 42. I noticed that there wasn't any gold star next to my status bars on my status screen, but I figured that was likely due to the fact that I was the shield hero. As such, my class was already set in stone as a shielder, not that I minded of course. I loved my shield, and had gotten very used to fighting with it.

The three of us still had about two hours to spare before the next wave hit, so after making sure our carriage was well hidden, we all decided to go grab a last minute bite to eat. Plum transformed into her lizardwoman form, and the three of us headed to the closest eating establishment we could find.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum walked into the first one we found, sat down at our table of choice, and ordered some food. And for once, neither me nor my companions had to threaten the waiter. From the look on his face, it seemed that the people of Melromarc were finally starting to realize that the three of us don't take any crap from humans.

As we waited for our food, Roxanne took a moment to look around the room, and spotted two familiar faces, gaining an expression of disgust as a result. "Lord Damian, look over there." She pointed at one of the other tables, with a tone that matched her facial expression pretty well.

Following her finger, I turned, and gained the same expression and tone as soon as I saw the two people she had pointed out for myself. "Oh great. Ren and Itsuki. Just ignore them." I said to my girls, really not wanting to deal with any of the three cardinal stooges at that moment. Fortunately, our food arrived right after that. So we all switched our focus over to our meal, and dug in, trying to enjoy some peace before our next big battle, which we all knew was extremely close at hand.

Meanwhile, over at their own table, Ren and Itsuki were engaging in a chat of their own. We weren't trying to eavesdrop at first, but me and my party did still hear a few of the things they were saying. Apparently, someone had been stealing the rewards for a few of their previous guild jobs. They thought that someone was going around pretending to be them, and that comment made both me and Roxanne snicker a few times, but we managed to keep the volume down while doing so.

_"Why would anyone wanna pretend to be either of you losers?" _Was the one and only thought on my and Roxanne's minds at that moment, as we began to actually try to eavesdrop on their conversation after that, all the while continuing to eat our food, and Plum looking at us and wondering what was so funny.

Ren and Itsuki continued their discussion, completely unaware that me and Roxanne were listening, though Itsuki did glance over at our table a few times, clearly already suspecting me of stealing their reward money. One of Itsuki's party members approached their table a few minutes later, and gave Itsuki another job request from the guild.

Based on what we heard, it sounded like a job that was very similar to the one that we witnessed the aftermath of about a day and a half ago. Some lord in a town to the north was overtaxing his citizens, and was using that money to suppress any sort of rebellion that rose up against his rule. Both of us already knew where this was headed, but rather then roll our eyes in annoyance, the next words out of Itsuki's mouth made it impossible for either of us to contain our laughter any further.

"Interesting. They need to be taught that with great power comes great responsibility." Itsuki said to his party member, looking and sounding very sure of himself. Perhaps a little too sure of himself.

Me and Roxanne had been sipping our drinks at the time, and once we heard those words from the bow hero, we ended up spitting our drinks all over Plum, then proceeded to laugh out loud, causing everyone in the room to turn toward us. Thankfully, our drinks were just water, but they were still more then enough to make Plum look at us with far more confusion all over her face, in addition to the water. "Uhhh...Is this some sort of game?"

It took about five minutes for me and Roxanne to finally calm down, as I grabbed some napkins and passed them to Plum. "No, its not. Sorry though Plum. Here. Clean yourself up."

Plum took the napkins and started to dry herself off, then she sensed Ren and Itsuki approaching our table, and they were not happy. Seeing Plum's facial expressions, me and Roxanne were able to put this together, and both of us braced ourselves for their arrival.

"What's so funny?" Itsuki asked us as soon as he arrived at our table, stopping about two feet away from it, as both he and Ren looked at us with some rather obvious annoyance and suspicion in their eyes.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned to face them, and I shrugged my shoulders before answering in a rather smart mouthed tone. "That's a little open ended, don't ya think? There's a lot of stuff in life for that's funny, especially in this kingdom. Where do you wanna start?"

"How about those faces of theirs? They both look like they just got bitten by a snake or something." Roxanne added in an equally smart mouthed tone, her joke causing both of us to laugh a bit more.

Ren and Itsuki, on the other hand, didn't look to be in a joking mood, as Itsuki spoke to us again. "Its been you, huh? Your the ones who've been impersonating us, stealing our jobs, and taking our rewards."

Me and Roxanne both stopped laughing after hearing this, and gained some serious tones and expressions in place of our laughter. "Ill have you know that me and my companions have a traveling merchant business that's thriving. So why in the hell would we ever do any of that?" I responded in a calm tone, taking a small sip from my glass of water after.

Itsuki's tone was slowly but surely growing far less calm though, as he raised his voice when answering my question. "Who else would come up with an idea like-"

I didn't let him finish though, starting to get a little annoyed with him myself. "If you really wanna know what's so funny, its you. "With great power comes great responsibility?" That's pretty laughable coming from a guy who screwed up as bad as you did. You think your someone's hero? Now that's a laugh."

Hearing this, Itsuki raised a single eyebrow at me. "What are you saying?"

At that point, me, Roxanne, and Plum all stood up from our table, and once again turned to face Ren and Itsuki, as I began to narrow my eyes at Itsuki as I spoke to him. "Me and my companions literally just came from what's left of that country you "saved." You know that I'm not very fond of humans, but just for more potential laughs, I may as well tell you what exactly happened to the people still living there after what you did."

I spent the next twenty minutes telling Ren and Itsuki exactly what me and my companions saw during our short but informative trip away from Melromarc, and I made absolutely sure not to leave anything out. "Basically, all you did was switch out the person in charge for one that turned out to be just as bad. If ya really wanted to help those people, don't ya think it might've been a good idea to stick around for a while and make absolutely sure that they'd be okay once you were gone?"

My words caused Itsuki to start to get a little angry, as he started glaring at me a little, and raised his voice at me again. "Stop trying to change the subject! We're talking about you impersonating my-"

The bow hero was interrupted yet again. This time by Ren, as he placed a hand on Itsuki's shoulder, and started questioning me himself. "How do you explain my case?"

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned to the sword hero after that, and straight away, Plum started to glare at him, letting out some low growls. This surprised even me and Roxanne a little. It wasn't everyday that we got to see Plum in a bad mood, but we both knew very well why she was.

With the memories of that day we fought the dragon zombie still fresh in my mind, I walked over to Plum, and gently rubbed the top of her head and the back of her neck, hoping to calm her down. "Easy Plum. He's not worth it. Try to calm down."

My words made Ren start to narrow his eyes at me a bit too, but my treatment did work to calm Plum back down a little. "I know lord Damian. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for Plum." I smiled at her, then turned back to Ren, and lost my smile instantly. "But you, on the other hand, owe quite a few people an apology. Let me guess, your case had to do with some kind of disease, right?"

"I'm not sure what your talking about, but from where I'm standing, your the only one who should be giving out apologies Damian. If you know about my job, then Ill cut right to the chase. Why'd you steal it from me?" Ren asked me, remaining calm, and also wondering why my scaly companion was so upset with him.

Rather then answer him myself, I let Roxanne field that one, knowing that she'd been quiet this whole time, and was eager to get a few good words in herself. "Do you have any idea how that disease even started in the first place? It was because you left that dragon corpse there to rot, and when it did, it caused an epidemic that nearly killed everyone in that village. We cleaned that mess up, gave the dragon's dead body a proper burial, and the people of that village paid us with the money they had originally planned to give you, because we saved them. Not you." The kitsune spoke clearly and firmly, shooting a glare at Ren that could paralyze any monster.

As soon as he heard all of this, Ren gasped, and started to look down. "No way...That cant be..."

"Its all true. If you need proof, then go back to that village and ask around. Although, I seriously doubt they'll welcome you of all people back. Me and lord Damian may not care for humans, like he said, but do you have any idea how many lives have been lost because of you two idiots?!" Roxanne yelled at Ren and Itsuki, gritting her teeth in anger, as she remembered how the dragon zombie nearly killed her, me, and Plum. Not to mention how I almost lost myself to my rage during the battle.

Her sudden increase in volume made both Ren and Itsuki flinch, as Ren started to feel some remorse about what he'd done. "Because of me?...I'm sorry."

At that point, Plum started to growl again, and began to yell at Ren herself. "Tell that to the dragon you killed! With so few dragons left in this world, I cant believe you would do such a thing! One day, I promise Ill make you pay for it!"

Plum's sudden outburst surprised all of us yet again, as both me and Roxanne worked together to calm her back down, but we also completely agreed with everything she said. Although Plum did calm back down in seconds, her glare, growls, and tone of voice were still more then enough to cause Ren to flinch again, and take a few steps back from her.

Seeing all of this, Itsuki rejoined the discussion, turning to face Ren this time. "Don't tell me you actually believe what they've said Ren!"

The sword hero took a single deep breath, slowly regaining his composure. "Why shouldn't I? They have no reason to lie. Besides, its hard to fake feelings like hers." He said to Itsuki, glancing at Plum as he said that last part.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all took a few more quick bites of our food after that, then we all turned to face Ren and Itsuki once more. "I'm not usually one for giving advice, but just this one, my advice to the two of you is this. Stop making dumb mistakes." I told the sword and bow heroes in a very serious tone, as me and my party proceeded to walk passed them, leaving the inn we'd chose to eat at.

As we walked passed the other two heroes, Plum purposely stomped on Ren's foot, shattering nearly every bone in his foot as a result. This caused the sword hero to wince hard, grit his teeth in sheer pain, and quickly sit down on the closest seat to him. "OW! Damn it! That really hurt! You realize the next wave is less then two hours away, right?!"

"Good thing you've got a healer in your party then, right?! If I were you, and I'm so glad I'm not, Id go see them right away!" Roxanne yelled back at Ren, showing absolutely no sympathy for him at all. Nor did Plum, as she just let out a single huff, not regretting her actions towards the sword hero even a little.

As for me, I was so proud of my girls after hearing all of that, and was already planning to treat them to a big reward after the next wave was over. I dropped the money for our meal on the counter at the bar on our way to the door, but came to a stop as soon as I heard Itsuki's voice yet again.

"I still don't believe you!" The bow hero yelled and glared at me, refusing to let any of this go.

None of us turned back to face him, but I did say one final thing to him before me and my girls walked out the door. "Ya just don't get it, do ya? I don't care if you believe me or not. None of us do. You can believe what ever the hell you want, but the bottom line is this. At the end of the day, your all just humans, and we don't give a damn what happens to any of you. And that's a good thing, because one day, all of your mistakes will come back to bite you on the ass."

Once Id finished speaking, me, Roxanne, and Plum all exited the inn, as Ren and Itsuki continued to glare at us until we were out of sight, especially Itsuki. From there, the three of us began to make our way back to our carriage, knowing that our vampire teammates would met up with us there just a few minutes before the next wave hit.

And as the timer on my status screen continued to count down to the beginning of said wave, all three of us had the same exact thoughts on our minds. Stick together, survive, and then its off to save Sasha. We had no idea what this next wave would throw at us, but with all of that in mind, and some big grins spread across our faces, we were all feeling more confident then ever. Ready to take on just about anything, and show this whole world what we could do.

"Okay girls, we've got supplies, we've got allies, and we've got plenty of power to spare. We may not know what this next wave will bring with it, but what ever we end up facing, it has no idea what its up against either. We've got this in the bag." I spoke to Roxanne and Plum with high levels of confidence and determination in my voice, feeling far better about our odds in this wave then I did in the last one.

Of course, back then, me and Roxanne didn't have Plum. And speaking of Plum, she was feeling just as confident and determined as I was. "Oh yeah! Nothings gonna stop us now! We'll conquer this wave in no time! I can feel it!"

Roxanne nodded in full agreement with my and Plum's words, then stared up at the sky as she spoke and continued to walk with us. "We're coming Sasha. Wait just a little while longer. We'll definitely save you, and give you a new place to call home. It'll be great to finally have you with us."

**Alright! Go Team Demon Lord! At the risk of sounding cocky, Id say that this was a pretty productive chapter for them, wouldn't ya say? Damian got some new shields and skills, Roxanne and Plum got their class upgrades, Plum got a weapon of her very own, our heroes gained a whole cult full of inhuman followers, they learned the whereabouts of Sasha, and they've set into motion the downfall of Itsuki's reputation. Not too shabby Id say.**

**However, with the next wave fast approaching, will our heroes be able to keep this string of good fortune going, or has their luck run out for good? Well, one things for sure. Damian, Roxanne, and Plum will never give up or admit defeat. Sasha is within their sights, and they'll give it everything they've got to save her from the fate of serving a cruel human lord.**

**All new monsters, foes, and challenges await our heroes up ahead, and the stakes have never been higher. So be sure to wish them good luck, and keep on reading, as they prepare to take on the next wave of catastrophe and what awaits within it.**

**Well, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I also hope to see you all again next time! See ya next time! And please, if you have any questions at all, I do encourage you to ask, but be warned. There are no big spoilers, so I'm afraid I wont answer all questions. So sorry, but some things you'll just have to read on to find out.**


	13. Ch 12 - Love, Hate, and the Iron Maiden

**Hello out there everyone! I hope you all had a Happy Easter, and are surviving this borderline quarantine we all seem to be going through. I myself am holding up fairly well, but all the store closings have been more then a little annoying. Not gonna lie. Still, I suppose its for the best. I wish I could say the same about my brother and sister though. Their sanity has been running rather low as of late. Their not really used to being trapped inside for extended periods of time.**

**Anyway, I've mostly been keeping myself entertained with a combination of anime, manga, role playing, video games, and of course, bringing you all the next chapter of The Demon Lord of the Shield! And speaking of video games, my local Gamestop finally re-opened the other day, so I was finally able to get my copy of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I haven't actually started playing it yet though. Before getting sucked into another new video game, I wanted to finish this chapter first.**

**I really hope you all enjoy it! Which reminds me, Id like to take this time to thank everyone who has continued to support me and my fic up to this point. I really appreciate all your favs, follows, reviews, and reads everyone. It all really means a lot to me, and I hope you'll continue to support me and my fic as the story goes on.**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters, locations, or events. I only own my OCs. Damian Abyss, Roxanne, Plum, Sasha, and others to be revealed later on.**

Chapter 12 - Love, Hate, and the Iron Maiden

A lot had happened since me and my party returned to the capital city of Melromarc. Some good stuff, some bad stuff, and some stuff that was a bit of both somehow. Still, even with the odds stacked against us at every turn, we managed to overcome every single obstacle the world threw at us. I really hoped our string of good fortune would continue too, as the next wave of catastrophe was less then an hour and a half away according to the timer on my status screen. Naturally, we weren't the only ones who were aware of that fact, as all the greatest knights, mages, and adventurers all over the kingdom were currently suiting up and preparing themselves for said wave, just as they'd done right before the last wave. Me and my party were doing the same, but this wave was far different from the last one for the three of us for a number of reasons.

For one thing, me and Roxanne had our faithful dragon Plum with us this time, and both of us knew that she'd definitely be a big help to our team. And speaking of teams, we'd also recruited a team of five vampires, sent to us from a cult of demon lord followers. Me and my companions still weren't sure if we could trust them or not, but this upcoming wave seemed like a good opportunity for them to prove their loyalty to us. And finally, the three of us had more to fight for then just ourselves and each other this time. Thanks to some information provided by Beloukas the slave trader, we learned the location of Roxanne's long lost sister-at-arms, Sasha. Unfortunately, she'd been sold to a Melromarc nobleman by the name of Idol Rabier, and his territory was too far away for us to reach before the next wave hit.

Therefore, the three of us knew that there was only one course of action that we could take. Survive this upcoming wave of catastrophe, then get to Sasha as quickly as possible. None of us had any idea of what to expect from this wave, and the stakes were high, but we were all more then ready to give it our all. Me, Roxanne, and Plum were all stronger, more confident, and more determined then we'd ever been before, and we had every intention of putting all of that to good use as soon as the wave started.

So, with our stomachs full after our lunch break, the three of us headed straight back to our carriage to finish up our last bit of prep work before the wave hit. As soon as we reached our carriage, we took stock of all the supplies we bought in preparation for said wave. And almost immediately after we arrived back at our carriage, our team of five vampire cultists appeared out of nowhere, informing us that they were ready to fight against the wave and help us out how ever we needed them to.

Despite the aura of mystery that continued to surround them and their cult, the three of us were actually kind of happy to see them, knowing that we'd need all the help we could get if we were gonna survive the upcoming wave, and possibly even end it sooner rather then later. For the time being, we put them all on standby, while me and my party continued to check our inventory one final time before the wave's arrival.

It took us a while, but thankfully, everything was in order, and all of our supplies were accounted for. We still weren't sure if we bought enough or not, but we still had lots of potions, medicine, spare weapons, and numerous other items on hand. Once that was taken care of, me, Roxanne, Plum, and our vampire teammates all decided to go over our battle strategies one more time, and by the time we were done, the timer on my status screen showed that we only had ten minutes until the wave began.

I made sure to relay that information to everyone else, since only I could actually see the timer. Thankfully, it was then that I remembered one more thing that I had to do, and I was very glad that I remembered it before time was up. "Oh right. Roxanne, come here for a second and hold out your right hand." I said, turning to my dear kitsune, as I opened and reached into my bag.

Hearing my voice, Roxanne did as I requested, walking over to me and holding out her right hand with a curious expression on her face. "Okay. Sure lord Damian, but why?"

Rather then answer her, I thought it would be better to show her, as I pulled a single accessory out of my bag and gently slide it onto her right wrist. The accessory in question was a silver bracelet with a single red gemstone on top, and a flame pattern engraved into the sides.

The second she saw it, Roxanne's eyes sparkled for a moment, and she let out a single gasp. "...Lord Damian, its beautiful. Did you make it yourself?"

I smiled as soon as I saw and heard her reactions, happy that she seemed to like it. "I did. As you can see, I styled it after you. With your white hair and skin, I figured silver would be a better fit for you then gold. The red gemstone is the same color as your eyes, and I engraved it with a flame pattern with your fire magic in mind. It has a spell to boost your mana generation too."

After listening to my explanation, Roxanne smiled right back at me, hugged me, and gave me a big kiss on my cheek. "I love it lord Damian. Thank you so much."

"I'm happy to hear that Roxanne. Think nothing of it." I said to her, happily returning her hug and kiss as well.

However, the two of us separated and turned when we heard the sound of Plum's voice. "Ummm...I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but do you maybe have a present for me too lord Damian?" She asked me in a slightly nervous tone, slowly pushing her two index fingers together as she did.

"Don't worry Plum. Id never forget about you. Do me a favor and lower your head please." I answered Plum with another smile on my face, sticking my hand back into my bag to look for Plum's gift.

Plum smiled as soon as she heard those words from me, and her tone perked up right away too. "Of course!" My scaly companion quickly lowered her head for me, and waited for me to give her the present I made for her with high levels of excitement, wondering what it might be.

It didn't take me long to find Plum's gift at all, and once I had it in my hand, I walked over to her, and gently clipped the accessory I made for her onto the three small horns on the left side of her head. The accessory itself was kind of like a hairclip, but specially made to clip onto Plum's horns rather then her hair. I made it that way because she only has hair when she's in her lizardwoman form, and just like Roxanne's gift, I wanted it to be something that Plum could wear anytime. Also like Roxanne's, I made Plum's accessory with specific attributes in mind. I've never really considered myself to be a good judge of fashion or anything, but I made Plum's accessory out of gold, because I figured that gold would go pretty well with her purple colored scales. I also made the accessory in the shape of four dragon claws, with a purple colored gemstone in each claw, the same color as Plum's scales of course.

I made sure to explain all of this to Plum, then I told her about the special benefits of her accessory as well. "Wearing this will make your attack power twice what it was before Plum, and it should still fit you perfectly in your dragon form too."

"I think it suits you Plum, but what do you think of it?" Roxanne asked Plum, giving her a friendly smile.

Before answering, Plum glanced at her new accessory, able to see it out of the corner of her eye, and got a big smile spread across her face once she saw it. "Its amazing! I love it! Thank you lord Damian!" Still in her lizardwoman form, Plum did just as Roxanne did before, giving me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Just like with Roxanne, I happily returned Plum's hug and kiss, very glad that they both loved their gifts. After the two of them gave me that really nice fishing rod back when we paid a visit to the hot springs village, I really wanted to do something nice for them in return. And thanks to our traveling merchant business, I had more then enough materials and tools to work with. Besides, I figured something handmade would be more meaningful then anything I could buy for my dear companions, and based on their reactions, it seemed I was correct. "Don't mention it Plum. You and Roxanne will always be worth any amount of work to me."

My girls both smiled at me once more, very happy and grateful to hear those words from me. And before we knew it, the final ten minutes we had before the wave were nearly up.

Seeing that we only had thirty seconds before the wave began, I quickly informed everyone that our last few minutes of prep time was nearly up. "Its almost time everyone! We've got thirty seconds! Everyone gather around now! As you know, you'll all be teleported to the site of the wave with me!"

My words were loud and clear, as Roxanne, Plum, and our five vampire helpers were all quick to gather around me at the front of our carriage immediately after hearing them. "The time has finally come. We will not let you down demon lord Damian." The head vampire said to me, as he and his fellow vampire cultists gave me one final bow while they had the chance.

"I'm all fired up. Lets get this done. Id rather not keep Sasha waiting." Roxanne stated with a fire in her eyes, one of her hands already gripping the handle of her sword.

"And I'm feelin strong! Ill smash up anything that comes our way!" Plum added, punching her fists together, and demonstrating high levels of enthusiasm.

I gave all of my comrades a single nod, then spread a confident grin across my face. "Hell yeah! We've got this everyone. As long as we work together, our plans will work for sure. Now lets show this kingdom what we can do."

Roxanne, Plum, and all five of our vampire teammates all nodded right back at me, getting some grins and smiles of their own as they did. And at that very moment, the timer on my status screen finally hit zero.

Right on cue, a bright magic circle appear underneath our feet, and began teleporting us to this wave's battlefield. As the light of teleportation enveloped us, we all readied our weapons, and mentally prepared ourselves for anything and everything that might attack us once we arrived at said battlefield. None of us seemed too worried though, as each and every one of us still had plenty of confidence to spare.

X

After being teleported, me, my party, and our team of vampires had ourselves a quick look around before the fighting began. The first thing that me and Roxanne noticed was the sky. It looked exactly the same as it did during our first wave together, having gone from blue with white clouds to red with dark clouds, and swirling multi-colored portals spitting out monster after monster.

The next thing that me and both of my companions noticed was that the location we'd all been teleported to was the same small village that we visited back when our traveling merchant business first started. From the looks of things, most of the villagers were heading towards a kind of shelter as fast as they could, while all those who were willing to fight grabbed a weapon and stayed behind to give them as much cover as they could.

And finally, the last thing we all noticed was the monsters that spawned from this wave. The last wave was mostly undead and insect type monsters, but this wave was goblins, werewolves, and lizardmen. The lizardmen were more then twice the size of Plum when she was in her lizardwoman form, but unlike Plum, these lizardmen were savage monsters with absolutely no logic or reason behind their actions.

Once we were done accessing the situation, all eight of us got right to work, jumping into the fray. Our first course of action was helping with the evacuation, keeping the fleeing villagers safe and fighting off any monsters that tried to attack them. Me and Roxanne may have struggled a bit during the last wave, but this time around, with Plum and our team of vampires backing us up, we were having a much easier go of it.

The evacuation itself didn't take too long, only about an hour or so, but upon hearing some frightened shouts coming from other parts of the village, we quickly realized that not all of the villagers had been safely evacuated just yet. From the sound of it, a single male villager was being chased by at least two monsters, and he was trying desperately to get away.

This caused me to let out a sigh, as I wondered why this villager didn't evacuate with the others, but then I quickly turned towards my party and pushed that thought out of my mind. "The evacuation is pretty much done now. Lets start searching the village for stragglers. And can some of you go help that shouting villager please?" I asked my vampire helpers, knowing that their spatial magic would enable them to the villager and save him a lot quicker then me, Roxanne, or Plum ever could on foot.

"As you wish demon lord Damian. Consider it done." One of the vampire cultists responded to me, then he and another one vanished instantly, transporting themselves over to the villager's general vicinity to grant him the aid he was shouting for.

While the two of them were seeing to that, me, Roxanne, Plum, and the remaining three vampire cultists all started running up and down the village streets, calling out to any villagers that may still have yet to evacuate for what ever reason. It didn't look like anyone was left though, aside from the villagers who stayed behind to fight, and both Roxanne and Plum respectively used their heightened magic and emotion sensing abilities to confirm it. Be that as it may, we continued our run through the village just to be absolutely sure, and fought and killed every single monster we passed. Fortunately, since the village wasn't very big, it didn't take us very long to search through the majority of it.

Meanwhile, the villager in need was being chased by a pair of goblins, and he ended up tripping and falling onto the ground while doing so. The two goblins came to a stop once they reached him, and raised their axes, preparing to strike him down.

However, just before they did, the two vampires I sent to help the villager appeared out of thin air, and pierced the necks of the goblins with their swords, killing them instantly. Now that the goblins were dead, the two vampires pulled their swords out of their throats, moved their masks, and proceeded to drink a good amount of blood from their victims. After finishing their little snacks, they both covered their mouths with their masks again, and turned to face the lone male villager. "What are you still doing here human? All of your fellow humans have evacuated already, and if you have even the slightest bit of common sense, you'll do the same. Now be gone! You are nothing but a nuisance to our lord."

At first, the villager was relieved to hear that someone had come to his rescue, but the second he turned around and saw his saviors drinking the blood of the monsters that had been chasing him, his fear returned with a vengeance. Even so, the villager listened to their words, and did as he was told. "...Y-Yes sirs." The man slowly got back on his feet, his entire body shaking with fear the entire time, then he quickly turned around again, and started running towards the nearest shelter as quickly as his fear stricken legs would carry him.

The two vampires watched him until he was out of sight, not very surprised by his reaction, but still having taken some offense to it. "Tch, stupid humans. Always so quick to judge the things they don't understand. We just saved his life."

"I agree, but you know as well as I do that it is our sworn duty to carry out our demon lord's will. If he ordered us to save that human, then I'm sure he had a good reason for it that will benefit all of us in the end. Now, let us report back to him at once." The two vampires got themselves ready to transport back to me and the rest of my party, but came to a complete stop as soon as they saw a large shadow suddenly appear and start looming over them.

Since they both used to be humans themselves, their senses weren't nearly as sharp as a real demi-human's were, so they failed to notice the approach of an even stronger monster until it was basically on top of them. The pair of blood suckers turned around as fast as they could, and were more then a little shocked to see a huge lizardman looking down at them. The monster growled at them, and raised its sword, aiming to strike them both down with a single swing.

"Air Strike Shield!" Just before the lizardman's attack hit either of them, me and the rest of my party appeared on the scene. The creature's blade clashed with my Air Strike Shield, but then that shield suddenly transformed into my Nue Shield. "Change Shield, and Lightning Shield!" I used one of my recently acquired skills to transform my Air Strike Shield from a distance, and before the lizardman had time to react, its entire body was enveloped by lightning as a result. "Roxanne! Plum! Go now!"

While the lizardman was still reeling as a result of my Lightning Shield skill, Roxanne and Plum took the opportunity to get in close, preparing to finish it off with their own skills. "Fox Robe!" After coating her sword and her entire body in white hot blue colored flames, Roxanne sliced off both of the lizardman's arms, and slammed its torso with all five of her tails.

The monster growled out in searing pain, but refused to just lay down and die. Unfortunately for it, our assault wasn't over just yet. "Crystal Crusher!" Still in her dragon form, Plum ran full speed at the lizardman, with three large, sharp, and purple colored crystals rising up from the ground and surrounding her body like a tank. Once she reached the lizardman, Plum slammed the crystals into the monster with all her might, shattering the armor that covered its chest, and putting the monster down for good.

Despite the fact that she could transform herself into one, Plum had absolutely no qualms about killing lizardmen. Her lizardwoman form was merely a transformation that allowed her to better spend time with and interact with me, Roxanne, and any other friends we'd end up making in the future, but she was, and would always be a dragon through and through. As such, the scaly monsters of this wave carried absolutely zero emotional value to her.

With this little skirmish settled, my floating Nue Shield, Roxanne's flames, and Plum's crystals all vanished, as me and the three other vampires all ran over to the two that the lizardman raised its sword against. "Are you two alright?" The head vampire asked his teammates, concerned for their safety, as well as the overall strength of our group.

The two vampires nodded at their captain, but then turned and bowed to me. "Yes, but please forgive us demon lord Damian. The villager escaped with his life, but we failed to notice the approach of such a large monster until it was already upon us."

I looked at them, listening to what they had to say, and was a bit surprised that they were apologizing for something like that. "Raise your heads, both of you. Its fine. You did the job I asked you to do. Just be sure to keep in mind that this is still a battlefield. Never lower your guard until your absolutely sure the battle is over. And in this case, the battle isn't over until the sky returns to normal."

"Yes demon lord Damian. As you command." The two vampires responded to me, then stood up straight once more.

Based on what Id seen from them so far, it was easy for me to see that all five of the vampires Id recruited were indeed skilled, but it was just as easy for me to see that they all lacked a significant level of battlefield awareness. I knew that that experience would come to them in time though, if they lived long enough to learn that is. Still, at the end of the day, it was nice to have some extra reinforcements around at times like these.

Just then, Plum turned her head toward one of the parts of the village we had yet to search, and spoke up. "Lord Damian, I'm sensing emotions other then rage and bloodlust! There's a human over there!"

Hearing this, I turned to her, then followed her gaze, and turned again, facing the same direction that she was. "Good job Plum! You all heard her! Looks like we missed another one, so lets move out!" At my command, we all followed Plum's lead, and headed over to a different part of the village. However, we were all extremely surprised by what we found when we arrived.

The human in question was an elderly woman, but from the looks of things, she was anything but helpless. She was being attacked by three werewolves, but she stood her ground, and fought back with some very strong martial arts. She killed the three werewolves with ease, and they weren't the only ones she'd defeated. Nearly the entire area was littered with the dead bodies of goblins, werewolves, and even a few lizardmen.

Needless to say, not a single one of us ever expected anything like this, as we all looked at the old woman with shocked, and admittedly impressed facial expressions. "How can such an old human be so strong?" Roxanne was the first one of us to speak up, asking the very same question that we were all thinking.

After killing the last monster in the area, the elderly woman finally turned to us, saw who we were, then bowed to me. "Thank you very much for your help in the past shield hero. I am in your debt."

Her words surprised and confused us even more, causing all eyes to fall on me, and Roxanne was the first one to ask. "Do you know her from somewhere lord Damian?"

I instantly tried to remember, and after about a minute, the memory in question surfaced in my mind. "Your that same woman I cured before." I said to the old woman, a little more surprised by her strength now that I remembered where I knew her from. She was so sick the last time I saw her that she could barely even talk, and now she's killing monsters left and right.

The elderly woman stopped bowing to me after that, and started smiling at me instead. "Yes indeed. Thanks to you, I'm feeling much better now. I suppose I never did introduce myself back then, did I? My name is Elrasla Grilaroc, and as you can see..." While she was speaking, a lone goblin charged at her with intent to kill, but in the space of three seconds, she dodged its strike, kicked it in the head, and killed it too, continuing to speak once it was dead. "...small fry like these are no match for me. I swear by these arms, which have fought many a foe back when I was still an adventurer!" She spoke with high amounts of confidence and enthusiasm in her voice, then began to laugh with the same amounts of both after she'd finished speaking, striking a confident pose as she stood tall over her many vanquished foes.

It was kind of weird, but at that very moment, I saw a bit of myself in this old woman. Her attitude, words, and posing reminded me of myself when I did my demon lord routine for new people. Additionally, I had to admit, it was nice to have another ally in this battle, and such a capable one too, despite her age. Still, it did take me, my party, and our team of vampires another minute to finish processing the scene that had just unfolded before us.

_"Well, that's it. Every human that cant fight has been evacuated safely. Now all we have to do is keep the monsters away from them until the wave is over. It might be wishful thinking, but hopefully those three idiots won't keep us waiting too long." _I thought to myself, then passed all of this information along to everyone else out loud.

From that moment on, me, Roxanne, Plum, our vampires, Elrasla, and any willing villagers held the line, fighting and killing every single monster that dared to enter the village, and keeping them well away from the shelters. If the last wave was any indication, me and Roxanne knew that the three cardinal stooges and their parties were probably close to, if not already fighting against the wave's boss monster. We also figured that this time around, the boss monster in question would be something far stronger then just a chimera.

Although we didn't really like the idea of leaving the boss monster to those three morons and their parties of assorted imbeciles, we also really didn't wanna deal with them and all their idiocy. So, me and Roxanne agreed to stick to the same method we employed during the last wave of catastrophe. To stand our ground, keep each other and our allies safe, and fight off every last monster that crossed our path until the three cardinal stooges finished off the wave's boss monster and brought the wave to an end.

However, this turned out to be a mistake on our part. Before any of us knew it, three more hours had gone by, and the wave was showing no signs of ending, or even letting up. In that time, not a single monster had managed to get passed our small, yet powerful group, but we were all starting to get really worried and annoyed. Especially annoyed.

As soon as there was another break in the action, we all grabbed some potions from our stockpile to restore our lost HP, MP, SP, and even to ease the fatigue our bodies were feeling. After swallowing down one of each of those potions myself, I looked up at the sky, glared, and said exactly what was on my mind in an annoyed tone. "Damn it! Its been three hours now! What the hell are those idiots doing?!"

"Dragging their asses! That's what it looks like to me!" Roxanne yelled out after downing a few potions of her own, sounding just as annoyed with the three cardinal stooges as I was.

It was extremely easy for Plum to sense how distressed we both were, and she knew better then anyone that this whole situation couldn't be allowed to continue, but this was still her first wave. So, at the moment, all she could think to do was try to ease the tension in the air. "Please calm down lord Damian. You too Roxanne. There must be something we can do."

"There is. You all must go." The head vampire stepped in, causing us all to turn to him, wondering what he was getting at exactly. "You all have someone waiting for you, don't you? If she's important to you, then she's important to us. This wave must end, and clearly the human cardinal heroes are too stupid to do it themselves. Or their all dead. Either way, all three of you should go and confront the boss monster of this wave yourselves."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all listened to what he had to say, then we all gave it some thought. During one of our strategy meetings, we told him and his fellow vampires about Sasha, since we were all starting to trust them and thought that it couldn't hurt. All three of us knew that our vampire ally was right, and after exchanging some glances and nods, our next course of action was clear.

"I suppose its like they say. If ya want something done right, ya gotta do it yourself. And never send humans to do a demon lord's job. Me, Roxanne, and Plum will go deal with the boss monster. Until then, I'm counting on all of you to hold down the fort here. We'll leave you with most of the potions that are left, but try not to push your luck. I'm not sure what kind of monster we'll be dealing with, but we'll try to finish it off sooner rather then later." I said to our team of loyal vampires, as me and my companions started to feel our confidence and determination return with a vengeance.

Just then, Elrasla entered the discussion, giving the head vampire a strong, yet friendly pat on the back with a confident smile on her face. "Now don't you go worrying about little old me. You can leave the village to me and these fine young blood suckers."

The head vampire stumbled and gasped a bit when the elderly woman suddenly patted his back without any kind of warning, then glared at her under his mask for a moment, before turning back to me and my companions. "Do not touch me so casually human, but yes. Please go demon lord Damian, Roxanne, and Plum, and leave defending the village to us. I swear on my life, we will not fail you." He and his fellow vampires all bowed to us once again, and Elrasla continued to smile, not looking bothered by his words directed at her even a little.

The three of us couldn't help smiling at the five vampires and the elderly woman, all of us feeling grateful to them for their help and their encouragement. Granted, it was still true that neither me nor Roxanne cared for humans, but having gained a growing cult of followers by helping so many humans, we both agreed that this village and its people were worth protecting. At least for now.

"Just don't go dying on us. That goes for all of you." I addressed our allies, then turned my attention back to Roxanne and Plum, with my confident grin and tone once again returning to my face and voice. "Girls, we're heading out. I'm sure we're all hoping that the three cardinal stooges really are dead, but if by some cruel twist of fate they're all still alive, then lets show those three morons how its done."

Roxanne and Plum both nodded at me, with Roxanne using her fury toward the three cardinal stooges and her concern for Sasha to fuel her warrior's spirit. "As much as I am hoping they're all stone cold dead, I have to say getting to see the looks on their stupid faces when we defeat the boss monster instead of them sounds like a victory to me."

"I agree, so lets hurry. Sasha is still waiting for us, and if the sword hero really is dead, then I wanna be the one to eat his stupid face off." The smile on Plum's face didn't match her words at all, but neither of us cared, nor would either of us make any sort of attempt to stop her from doing exactly that to Ren's lifeless body, if they all really did turn out to be dead of course.

From there, me and Roxanne grabbed a decent number of potions from what was left of our supply, putting them into my bag until we needed them, and leaving the rest with our allies. After that, Plum lowered herself down for us to get on, and the two of us happily accepted her invitation. I held onto the reins, Roxanne held onto me, and Plum ran off as fast as she could, leaving the village and heading through a thick forest of trees. None of us were entirely sure where to go, but we figured the mountain road that this forest lead to would be a good place to start. We knew that we'd be able to see for miles in nearly every direction from up there, and hopefully, we'd be able to spot something that could lead us to this wave's boss monster.

X

After several minutes of non-stop running, Plum exited the forest and ran out onto the mountain road, with me and Roxanne still on her back. As Plum ran along the mountain road, me and Roxanne kept our eyes peeled for anything that looked different, important, or just plain monstrous. Since we'd travelled on this road before, we figured that it would be fairly easy for us to spot something like that, but what we ended up finding was easily all three.

"Lord Damian, look there!" As soon as Plum turned around a corner, Roxanne pointed out a very large object further down the road, floating almost right next to the mountain.

The object in question was a huge pirate ship. It looked like it had definitely seen better days, with torn sails and some rather large gaps in its hull. The ship also had a flock of undead birds flying above it, and below, it had a kraken along for the ride, with a serpent-like head at the end of each tentacle.

"Wow! I've never seen such a big ship before!" Plum commented as she ran, looking up at the floating ship, rather impressed by it.

She wasn't nearly as impressed as I was though. In fact, I started smiling the moment I laid eyes on the ship. "This world has pirates too? Awesome! This world just keeps on gettin better!" Being that Id spent most of my life either on or close to the ocean, I often dreamt about one day sailing the seas as a pirate when I was little, so getting to see a real pirate ship got me all kinds of excited.

Sadly, my excitement diminished the moment I heard the sound of a familiar voice not far from our location. "Keep it up! Hit it again!" Me and my party quickly recognized this as the voice of Itsuki, the bow hero. He and his party had set up shop on the mountain road as close to the ship as they could get, and were firing volley after volley of arrows at it. Every single one of their shots seemed to be aimed at the ship's figurehead, and they did hit, or at least got close to hitting it. However, their attacks didn't seem to do much, or any damage to the ship at all. And every time they opened fire on the ship, the ship aimed its cannons at them and quickly returned fire, while one member of Itsuki's party set up a magical barrier to try and protect them from the ship's attacks.

As soon as we saw Itsuki, all three of us immediately started to look bummed out and frustrated at the same time. We were all really hoping that Itsuki and the other two cardinal stooges were dead, but we didn't give up hope just yet. We hadn't seen Ren or Motoyasu just yet, so there was still a chance that we could be rid of two of them.

However, we all put those thoughts aside for the time being. Once Plum had reached a part of the road that was close to the ship, she came to a complete stop, and all three of us looked up at it. "That definitely looks like the kind of place you'd find a boss monster." Roxanne commented, already sensing some powerful and malevolent magic aboard the floating ship.

"Well, considering the fact that Robin Fool and his merry men over there are firing at it so intently, this must be the right place." I added, agreeing with Roxanne, and gesturing over to Itsuki and his party as I spoke. I took a moment to think of a plan of attack after that, then let out a sigh as a rather unpleasant idea crossed my mind. "As much as it makes me wanna vomit, lets see if we can get some information out of the hero complex bowman over there before we board the ship. I don't know about you two, but Id kinda like to know what's been taking him and the other two idiots so long to slay this wave's boss monster."

Roxanne and Plum both listened to me, then thought about my idea for a moment. Naturally, neither of them were particularly thrilled about the idea of even talking to one of the three cardinal stooges, but they had to admit, they were both a little curious as to the cause of the three hour long hold up themselves. "Okay lord Damian. If that's what you think we should do." Trusting my judgement, Plum ran closer to Itsuki and his party, stopping before we got too close to them of course.

"Hey Hero Complex, what exactly are you trying to do?! And where's Spear-for-Brains and the Moron of the Round Table?!" I started questioning Itsuki right away, giving him, Motoyasu, and Ren some rather insulting nicknames as I did. The spear and sword heroes may not have been around to hear them, but that made no difference to me or Roxanne for that matter, as I ended up getting some laughter out of her, while Plum just tilted her head in confusion, still failing to understand my jokes.

Upon hearing my words, Itsuki and his party stopped their attacks on the pirate ship, and turned towards me and my party right away. The nicknames I gave Itsuki and his fellow cardinal heroes weren't so popular with them though, as they all shot some quick glares at me, then turned back to the ship and resumed their attacks. Still, even in his displeased state, Itsuki still gave me the answers me and my companions wanted. "If you must know, Motoyasu and Ren are on the ship. I told them that attacking the figurehead and spawning the Soul Eater came first, but nope. They refused to listen to reason."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all listened to the bow hero's response, and we did catch one piece of useful information from his words. "A Soul Eater, huh? We'll be sure to keep that in mind. Plum, think you can get us on the ship from here?" I asked her, as me and my companions turned our attention over to the ship as well.

"Of course lord Damian. You and Roxanne better hold on tight." Plum answered me with a smile on her face, then stomped her foot on the ground. "Stone Road!"

Itsuki and his party looked on in shock and disbelief, as Plum's spell made a long stone path burst from the side of the mountain and travel all the way up to the pirate ship, jamming itself into the side of the ship once it reached it. The ship was still moving though, so her spell wouldn't last for long.

Knowing that, Plum wasted no time in running onto her Stone Road, and heading straight for the ship. All the while, I held onto the reins as tightly as I could, and Roxanne held onto me as tightly as she could, without causing me to suffocate of course.

The three of us reached the deck of the ship just before Plum's Stone Road crumbled, then we all started to look around, raising our guards immediately. None of us had seen a Soul Eater in person before, but Id seen and read about them in anime, video games, and mythology before. So I knew that they were definitely not to be taken lightly.

However, before I got a chance to rely any of my knowledge on Soul Eaters to Roxanne and Plum, the three of us quickly took notice of two separate battles taking place on opposite sides of the ship's deck. And the three of us didn't like what we were seeing one bit.

At the stern of the ship was Motoyasu and his party, fighting against the kraken that was latched onto said ship. At the same time, Ren and his party were battling a skeleton type monster called a Skull Captain at the bow of the ship.

Both parties were fighting against their respective foes with everything they had, but from where me and my party were standing, they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Every single time Ren and his party made the Skull Captain's HP drop to 0, the monster stayed down for about three seconds, but then it immediately got back on its feet, with its HP fully restored. Similarly, every time Motoyasu and his party defeated one of the kraken's tentacles, a new one grew in to take its place almost right away. Needless to say, both heroes and their parties were becoming very tired and frustrated.

Upon seeing all of this, me and my party all got a pretty good grasp of the situation, then we all started to look pretty frustrated ourselves. "Yay. Their alive." Roxanne said what we were all thinking in an extremely sarcastic tone, referring of course to Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their parties.

"So they weren't dead after all. Their all just way bigger idiots then we thought they were." I added, as me and my party all came to the realization that the reason for the seemingly never ending wave of catastrophe was due to the fact that all three of the cardinal stooges have been locked in three separate never ending battles. None of which were against the wave's boss monster.

As their respective opponents sent them back to square one yet again, both Ren and Motoyasu found themselves backing away from their opponents to give themselves some breathing room, and ultimately ended up bumping into each other in the process. The second they made contact, Ren glanced at Motoyasu, and started yelling at him without a second thought. "What the hell are you doing Motoyasu?! We need to take out the skeleton to spawn the Soul Eater!"

True to his nature, Motoyasu glanced and yelled right back at Ren the first chance he got. "I already told you Ren! We're gonna have to take out the kraken to spawn the Soul Eater! Now stop wasting time with that bag of bones and help me!"

The argument between the sword and spear heroes escalated very quickly, and within seconds, the two of them and all of their party members were yelling at each other. It was like they'd all completely forgotten where they were, as the chaos of the wave continued to rage on all around them.

They also had yet to take notice of me, Roxanne, and Plum as well, and all of their bickering quickly caused all three of us to sigh and slowly shake our heads from side to side a few times. "This is clearly going nowhere fast. I guess that means its up to us again, right lord Damian?" Plum asked, glancing at me, and calling to mind all the times we've been forced to clean up after the three cardinal stooges.

"You got it Plum. Now if you and Roxanne could please cover your ears, I believe this'll make them all shut up." I answered Plum, then equipped my Voice Gengar Shield.

As soon as they saw that shield, Roxanne and Plum quickly covered both their ears, knowing very well what came next. Roxanne also used two of her tails to cover my ears as well, remembering that my Voice Gengar Shield can also damage the user's ears.

I smiled as soon as I felt two of Roxanne's tails over my ears, grateful that she did that for me. I then turned my attention back to the sword and spear heroes and their parties, clearing my throat and taking a deep breath. "ATTENTION IDIOTS! SHUT THE HELL UP!" I yelled as loud as I could into my shield, which did a very effective job of raising the volume of my voice to say the least.

My voice echoed for miles in every direction, then it all went silent for a few seconds, as Ren, Motoyasu, and their parties stopped all their arguing and finally acknowledged me and my party. Needless to say, all of their ears were ringing, and it took all of them about a full minute to even begin to get their hearing back.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all uncovered our ears, as I changed my shield back into its normal form. As we watched the humans struggle to regain their hearing, me and Roxanne couldn't help snickering a little bit, and even Plum let out more then a few giggles at the scene that had just played out before her. "I'm definitely doin that again at some point." I said in between snickers, never realizing before just how much fun the Voice Gengar Shield was.

The first one to regain his hearing was Ren, and the first thing he did after that was turn to me and start glaring. "Damian. That figures."

Unfortunately, the next person to regain his hearing was Motoyasu, and was quick to follow Ren's lead. "What the hell are you trying to do?! Make our heads explode?! Why don't you hit the road and go defend some village?!"

"I agree! An incompetent hero who cant fight should just stay out of our way!" As literally anyone would expect, Malty agreed with Motoyasu, raising her voice at me and my companions as well.

Me and Roxanne climbed down off Plum's back as we listened to their words, then Roxanne gave Malty a response, glaring daggers right back at the red headed princess. "First of all, lord Damian has bested your sorry excuse for a hero in battle three times already, so you and I both know that he can fight just fine! And secondly, if anyone on this ship is incompetent, its all of you!"

"Seriously! This wave has been going on for over four hours now! What the hell have all of you idiots been doing all this time?! Singing chanteys with your thumbs planted firmly up your asses?!" I added, as both me and Roxanne quickly switched gears, going from playful snickering to angry yelling.

However, before anyone could respond or give me an answer, the Skull Captain suddenly re-established its presence, running and singing its sword at me, but I managed to block the attack with my shield just in time. I then pushed the undead creature away from me, and continued to yell at all the humans around me. "The longer you morons drag your asses, the more lives will be lost to the never ending hoards of monsters spawned from this wave! Now, we all know that I don't give a damn about the lives of humans, and I almost cant believe the words that are coming out of my mouth right now, but there are plenty of people that do care about the lives of those humans! Not to mention the fact that there's a lot more then just humans living in this kingdom!"

The kraken decided to take a shot at me next, sending three of its tentacles in to strike at me. In response to this, I equipped my Frozen Pride Shield, and deflected all three of the tentacles with it, causing them to freeze solid mere seconds after making contact. "Some of you may not think so, but the lives of demi-humans and beastmen matter too, but instead of working together, you're all just doin what ever the hell you want and tryin to grab all the glory yet again! What all of you fail to realize is that if you fail, a lot of living beings will die, yourselves included, and you wont be getting another chance to start over and try to do it right! Ya hear what I'm sayin Ren?! Motoyasu?! This might be just a game to you two and Itsuki, but its not! This is real damn it! Why cant any of you seem to get that through your thick skulls?!"

Naturally, all I got were glares, as Ren was the first one to raise his voice and respond to my words. "Don't you think I know that by now Damian?! That's why I'm trying to kill the skeleton to spawn the Soul Eater!"

And just like that, the arguing started back up again, with Motoyasu mocking Ren's methods, and yelling at him again too. "Ha! You've killed it at least five times now, and nothing spawned at all!"

"We obviously have to kill it a certain number of times to make it work!" Ren snapped right back at Motoyasu, getting even angrier.

While the two of them went back to blowing up at each other, I let out yet another sigh of frustration. "Id say that I don't believe this, but I do. Why did I even bother?" I knew that it would be up to me and my party to figure this out, so I decided to try taking a look at the stats of the Skull Captain and the kraken. "It doesn't look like they have any special skills or resistances, and I'm betting its the same for the figurehead. Since killing them hasn't been working, then there must be more to it then that." Even though I knew that this wasn't a video game, Id seen this sort of thing many times in video games, so I began to try looking around for any subtle clues hidden around the deck of the ship that might lead to an answer.

As I looked around, I called to mind everything that I knew about Soul Eaters, as well as every time Id seen this sort of situation in one of my video games. Then, after about thirty seconds, something did indeed stand out to me. The shadows of both the Skull Captain and the kraken didn't match their physical forms at all. It was like they were rippling, and they flashed dark purple and black. My eyes widened as soon as I noticed this, and I almost couldn't believe that I didn't notice it earlier. "That's it! Sneaky bastard! Roxanne, we need some light magic! The brightest spell you've got!"

Roxanne and Plum were a bit surprised by my sudden outburst, especially since neither of them were seeing the things that I was seeing, but the two of them always trusted my judgement above all else. "I don't really see how that'll help, but I've got just the thing lord Damian. I advise you and Plum to cover your eyes." After giving us a warning, Roxanne pulled her sword out of its sheath, and started to focus her magic power, as her entire body began to glow with it. "Go First Light!" Her spell shot a blinding light up into the air that quickly illuminated the entire area, and caused everyone to shield their eyes any way they could.

Fortunately, me and Plum shielded our eyes in advance, just as Roxanne warned us to, so the light didn't bother us too much. It was a bit difficult to see if my theory was correct though, as I narrowed my eyes at the shadows of both the Skull Captain and the kraken. Several seconds after I did, I saw the signs that I was hoping for, as some rather evil looking eyes and grins could be seen manifesting in the shadows of the two monsters. "Perfect! Now attack the shadows of both monsters!"

My words came through loud and clear, so Roxanne and Plum immediately did as I said, still not entirely sure why though. Roxanne jumped at the Skull Captain, and plunged her sword directly into its shadow. At the same time, Plum turned towards the kraken, charged straight for the monster, and stomped her foot down directly on top of its shadow.

Immediately after the two of them had done this, large amounts of ghost or spirit energy erupted from the shadows of both monsters, capturing the attention of everyone aboard the ship right away. "Huh?! What's this?! What did those three do now?!" Motoyasu questioned the results of my and my party's actions, looking up at the strange energy with wide eyes.

"What the hell has been going on up here?! Is this the Soul Eater's spawning?!" Itsuki did the same, as he and his party finally managed to climb onboard the ship themselves.

All around us, more and more of the strange energy appeared, then it all started to gather together in the air above us, slowly taking form. After just ten seconds, the last of the energy joined together with the rest, and a large puff of smoke followed. When it cleared away, everyone looked up once more, and saw that the Soul Eater had indeed spawned as a result of the efforts of me and my companions. Everyone was a bit surprised, and a little intimidated at first, but we all managed to recompose ourselves just in time, as the Soul Eater let out a frightening screech and floated right down at us.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all moved back right away, getting some distance between us and the boss monster, while the three cardinal stooges all went on the attack without any real strategy right off the bat. "Thunderbolt Slash!" Ren infused his blade with magic, then swung it as hard as he could at the monster, sending a lightning magic based slashing attack flying at it.

"Thunder Arrow!" Itsuki quickly followed up Ren's lightning attack with one of his own, firing a lightning charged arrow at the Soul Eater from where he stood.

"Lightning Spear!" And finally, Motoyasu added his own lightning based magic attack into the mix, thrusting his spear towards the monster, and unleashing a burst of lightning magic at the floating creature.

All three of their attacks did manage to hit the Soul Eater, and at roughly the same time, but they didn't seem to have any effect on the boss monster at all. The Soul Eater didn't even flinch when their attacks struck, and just let out another loud screech at the three heroes in response.

"Its strong. Stronger then I thought." Ren was the first one among them to voice his concerns, not expecting the Soul Eater to shrug off all three of their attacks so easily.

"Are our attacks even effecting it?" Motoyasu asked, slowly realizing that this boss monster wouldn't go down nearly as easily as the chimera from the previous wave did.

Meanwhile, me and my party were hanging back a bit, observing the efforts of the three cardinal stooges, and trying to come up with our own plan of attack. "Lightning magic is clearly the wrong way to go, so lets try other types of magic and see how they do. Roxanne, Plum, hit it with some fire and earth magic. Ill use ice." I said to my companions, then aimed my Frozen Pride Shield at the Soul Eater. "Snow Crystals!" Numerous large snowflakes appeared around me, then folded into arrows, and fired themselves at the monster.

"You've got it lord Damian! Fox Fire!" Roxanne once again followed my directions without question, sending a large fox made out of her blue flames right at the Soul Eater.

"I'm with you too! Spike Arrows!" Plum was the last one of us to fire off her spell, opening her mouth up wide, and shooting a barrage of purple colored crystal spikes, all aimed at the boss monster.

All three of our attacks hit the Soul Eater, and did manage to cause some damage, but only a very small amount. Still, that seemed to be more then enough to get the monster's attention, as it turned its glare towards me and my companions, floated to the opposite end of the deck of the ship, then opened its mouth up wide and began to build up its energy for a counterattack.

"Come on! We've gotta take it out before it unleashes all that energy!" Ren said in a confident tone, then charged straight for the monster, not looking worried or frightened by the creature's level of power at all.

"Right behind ya!" Motoyasu was quick to follow Ren's lead, charging straight for the Soul Eater right alongside him, and sharing his level of confidence as well.

As the pair of morons ran full speed towards the wave's boss monster without a plan, the orb of pure magical energy in its jaws continued to get bigger and more powerful as the seconds went by. Seeing this, I knew right away that defense, rather then offense was the way to go. "Roxanne! Plum! Get behind me now!"

Hearing my words, both of my companions moved behind me as fast as they could. Being that I was the shield hero, it was obvious to both of them that I was planning to block the Soul Eater's attack myself. Of course the kitsune and the dragon had the utmost faith in me, but seeing how powerful the Soul Eater's attack was quickly becoming, they both couldn't help worrying about me at least a little bit.

Even I wasn't entirely sure that Id be able to handle being hit by an attack like that, which is why I was grateful that Ren and Motoyasu had the monster's attention divided. I hoped the Soul Eater would choose to fire at them instead, but still, it never hurts to be overly prepared. So I switched over to my recently acquired Siderite Shield, and activated its skill just before the boss monster unleashed all of the power it had been storing up. "Meteor Shield!" The green gemstone in my shield started to glow, then a powerful magical barrier appeared all around me, Roxanne, and Plum.

Not even two seconds later, the Soul Eater let loose and fired its attack. Fortunately for me and my party, the attack was aimed at Ren and Motoyasu, and caused them both to let out some loud shouts the moment it struck them, but the attack ended up damaging far more then just those two. The entire ship shook violently from the impact, and when the dust settled, Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and every single one of their party members were on the ground, having taken heavy damage from the Soul Eater's attack.

The only ones still standing were me, Roxanne, and Plum. My new skill kept us from taking any damage, as the magical barrier all around us vanished not long after the monster's attack had ended, but we all knew that this was no time to rest or celebrate. This battle was far from over. We needed a plan, and fast.

Unfortunately, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki didn't stay down for long. The three of them slowly got back on their feet, but they were all looking and feeling more then a little worse for wear after an attack like the one they just endured.

Perhaps even more unfortunate then that was the fact that the Soul Eater refused to give us much time to come up with a plan, already starting to charge up its energy for a second attack. As soon as I saw this, I yelled out the best plan that I could come up with in the time that I was given. "Roxanne, we need illusions! Try to make them appear around the empty parts of the ship and draw the Soul Eater's attention!"

"Right! Leave it to me lord Damian!" Like myself, Roxanne wasn't too keen on protecting the three cardinal stooges and their parties, but the more chances we got to show them up, especially while they were all watching, the better. At least that's how we felt.

However, if I was being honest, there was actually another, and more important reason for my desire to keep that group of idiots alive. For what ever reason, I found myself thinking back to my conversation with Melty a few days ago. The young princess' words repeated in my head over and over again, as did the memories of the time that me and my party spent with her. Of course, I still had absolutely no desire to work with or fight alongside any of the three cardinal stooges and their allies, but no matter how useless and annoying they were, and no matter how much of a bitch her elder sister was, their lives were all important to Melty for one reason or another. So, as thanks for helping me out with Motoyasu and Malty the other day, I was willing to do this for Melty. Just this once.

Roxanne wasn't aware of any of this, but she still carried out my orders, making illusionary copies of herself appear all over the empty parts of the ship's deck, all while her eyes glowed with her magic power. "Hey! Over here! Just try to hit me!" Roxanne began to goad the Soul Eater into attacking and using up all the energy it was building up, as she quickly mixed herself in with her copies, and made all of their mouths move in perfect sync with her own.

Just like always, Roxanne's illusions did the trick. The Soul Eater couldn't tell which of the many kitsune was the real one, so the monster ended up firing its attack at the first one it saw, completely missing everyone else in the process, but that Roxanne was just one of her many copies.

Roxanne and all of her copies grinned as soon as the real Roxanne saw this, seeing that our current strategy was working. "Sorry. Wrong answer. Now eat this Soul Eater. Wind Slicing Sword!" Roxanne and all of her copies made wind magic swirl around the blades of their swords, then they all slashed their blades up at the Soul Eater, sending a powerful wind magic based slashing attack up at the boss monster. Of course, only one of the spells was actually real, but all of the others served to further confuse the creature, as the real spell hit its mark, causing the Soul Eater a little more damage.

"Now its my turn!" Seeing an opening, Plum took advantage of all the confusion, and proceeded to hit the Soul Eater with a powerful attack of her own. "Take this! Giga Rock Hammer!" Plum gathered all of her magic power into her tail, creating a massive crystal hammer on the end of it. The dragon then jumped up at the boss monster, slamming her spell as hard as she could into the monster's face.

The Soul Eater let out another loud screeching sound, taking another small amount of damage from Plum's attack, despite how impressive it was. From there, Roxanne and Plum took turns evading attacks from the Soul Eater, hiding among Roxanne's illusions, and striking the monster with all they had every chance they got.

As I watched all of this unfold before my eyes, I kept a close eye on the status bars of my companions, as well as the Soul Eater's HP bar. I once again admired the fighting spirits of Roxanne and Plum, but based on the rates at which their MP and the Soul Eater's HP were currently dropping, I quickly came to a rather harsh realization. "Its no good. This strategy will bring it down eventually, but at this rate, Roxanne and Plum will run out of magic power long before this monster's HP hits zero, and I'm not sure the potions we have left will be enough to make up the difference. Not only that, but if this drags on for too long, all of our allies back in the village wont make it."

After another thirty seconds of chipping away at the Soul Eater's HP, Roxanne and Plum were both starting to see what I was seeing. Neither of them could see status bars the way I could, but their instincts were all they needed to tell them that their efforts weren't amounting to much. So the two of them stopped their assault on the creature, and returned to my sides, as Roxanne made all of her illusions vanish to conserve her remaining magic power.

"I don't mean to be a downer or anything, but this just isn't working." Plum stated in a concerned tone of voice, as she looked up at the Soul Eater, saw that it didn't look tired or hurt at all, and started to look a little discouraged.

"Don't give up hope yet Plum. Even a monster like this has to have some kind of weakness." Roxanne said to her friend and comrade, still more determined then anyone else to end this wave. The vision of her sister-at-arms Sasha was keeping that determination burning brighter then her fire magic, but even she couldn't deny that we were all in a very tight spot at the moment.

As I listened to the words of my companions, and saw the expressions on their faces, I began to worry about them. Then, after giving it a bit more thought, and considering our options, I could only think of one more thing for us to try. "Roxanne, Plum, I'm gonna give the Rage Shield a try. I'm not sure if Ill be able to control it, or what it'll make me do, so be sure to keep your distance from me at all times, and please forgive me if I end up hurting either of you in any way." I spoke to my companions in a serious tone, mentally preparing myself to try activating the Rage Shield, but then I lost my train of thought when I suddenly felt Roxanne hug one of my arms, and Plum hug the other. "Girls?"

"It'll be fine lord Damian. You know better then anyone that we trust you with our lives, and that we love you more then anyone or anything else. We'd gladly follow you to hell and back, and we'll always be there for you when you need us to be." Roxanne said to me in a gentle, loving tone, looking at me with a warm smile present on her face. It was true that she loved Sasha a very great deal, but that was an entirely different kind of love.

"Roxanne is absolutely right lord Damian. I've never really seen this Rage Shield before, but I do remember you and Roxanne telling me about it. It'll take a lot more then that to make us lose faith in you. No matter how bad things may get for us, we'll stand by you until the very end. Always." Plum did the same on the other side of me, still in her dragon form, but that didn't matter to any of us for even a second.

Each of them then gave me a kiss on both of my cheeks for good luck, and I couldn't help smiling at this, and all their heartfelt words, as I felt my heart skip a beat at that very moment. "Roxanne, Plum, thank you both so much. Of course you both know that I feel exactly the same way about you two. I love you both with all my heart, and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you girls, which is exactly why I have to do this now. Both of you stand back, and be sure to take care of each other until I'm back to my normal, or I guess abnormal self." I laughed a bit at my own joke, then gave each of my companions a kiss on their cheeks in return.

Roxanne and Plum both nodded at my words, blushed slightly, then let me go and took a few steps back. Both of them hoped that Id remember their words even after I activated my Rage Shield, and that those words would help me gain control over it this time.

After taking a single deep breath, I took a few steps forward, held my shield out in front of me, and looked up at the Soul Eater. "C'mon Damian. You can do this. Don't let the rage take hold." I said to myself, then put my game face on as I focused my power. "Come forth Rage Shield!" Just like the first time I used this shield, the green gemstone on the front of my shield turned red and started to glow, as my upgrade tree started appearing all over my shield, as well as my face and body. I felt the power of the Rage Shield begin to awaken within me, and it made me let out a loud shout.

However, before I had any time to react, the whole world around me suddenly went black. At first, I had no idea where I was or what was going on, as I looked all around myself with high levels of confusion present on my face. I didn't see anyone or anything, but from out of the darkness, I started to hear an unfamiliar voice. _"You will pay..."_

Hearing this voice made me gasp, as I kept looking around, trying to find the source of it. Mere seconds after that, I found what I was looking for, as the voice spoke up again, a lot louder the second time. _"You will pay!"_ The source of the voice turned out to be the Dragon Zombie that me and my companions faced and defeated before, as an image of the undead beast suddenly appeared before me through the darkness, and it was glaring with very intense levels of anger in its eyes.

This caught me completely by surprise, and made me flinch, but the image vanished as quickly as it appeared. The image that took its place was of Ren, pointing his sword at me, and then thrusting it into my chest without so much as a word. This turn of events caused me to flinch once again, as my eyes went wide and I couldn't help yelling out in pain for a moment. However, I quickly realized that none of it was real, but I was still extremely confused, and I was starting to sweat a little too. "What...What was all of that just now?"

What ever was happening to me, it was far from over, as I suddenly heard the voice of the Dragon Zombie again without warning. _"For humiliating me! For defeating me as a puny human! And for humiliating me by taking my bones and using me as a mere tool!"_

As I listened to the dragon's voice, I saw images in my head of when Ren defeated and killed him when he was still alive, then I saw images of when me, Roxanne, and Plum defeated him again after he was revived as an undead, as well as an image of the crystal that Plum pulled out of his corpse, and how she broke off a piece of it for me to absorb into my shield. "These memories...The Dragon Zombie? No. The dragon himself." I said to myself, trying my hardest to assess the situation, and remain in control of my own mind and body. However, I had to admit, some of the things the dragon was saying and feeling did resonate with me quite well.

_"You will pay! You will all pay!"_ The dragon continued to yell out, sounding even angrier, as the words "Grow up" suddenly appeared in my field of vision.

"Grow up? What's that supposed to mean?" The only thing about me that was growing was my confusion, but then I suddenly got my answer out of the blue. In a matter of seconds, my shield transformed into its Rage Shield form, and the flames from that shield began to travel all over my body, making my armor transform into a new set of armor that was black in color and very demonic-looking. The flames continued to burn all over my body from that point onward, and I suddenly found myself letting out a yell of pure rage, as I continued trying desperately to hold onto my sanity and sense of self.

_"This burning rage...Its different from before...Not just my own...but his as well...I can feel it...Its a feeling that I know. This dragon...he hated humans too...just like me. Since that's how it is...I see no reason why we cant work together."_ I thought to myself in the middle of the flames, as I slowly felt myself giving in to the pure, seething rage and hatred, though I didn't fully realize what I was saying or doing at the time.

Meanwhile, back in the world outside my internal struggle, the three cardinal stooges and their parties were back in the battle, trying desperately to deal any kind of damage to the Soul Eater. However, as pretty much anyone would expect, their combined efforts didn't accomplish much, or even anything at all. The boss monster of the wave was still going strong, but then, after another minute, all eyes were on me, as the humans finally noticed the changes to my shield, armor, power, and attitude.

I finally came out of my literal internal conflict, and I was anything but happy. My Rage Shield was out and wrapped in cursed flames, my armor had changed into a new and very demonic looking set, and my eyes were glowing red as I glared at pretty much everyone in my field of vision, all while growling like an enraged beast. Seconds later, I let out a loud yell that sounded almost like the roar of a monster, which managed to even gain the attention of the Soul Eater.

The three heroes and their parties had never seen anything like this before, and it left them all in a state of shock for a brief moment, until Itsuki managed to question this rather sudden development. "What the hell has gotten into him?"

"I think you mean them! Look!" Motoyasu suddenly yelled out, pointing towards Plum as he did.

Just like me, Plum had undergone a sudden transformation filled to the brim with rage. Her entire body was covered in the same cursed flames as my Rage Shield, her eyes were glowing red, and she was growling like the dragon she was.

Roxanne did as I said, and was keeping her distance from us, but that didn't stop her from looking at me and Plum with eyes of confusion and concern. "Its happening to Plum too this time? But why? What's happening to the two of you?!" The kitsune raised her voice at us, hoping to get some kind of response that would reassure her that we were okay.

Sadly, Roxanne didn't get any sort of response from either of us. Instead, Plum transformed into her lizardwoman form, and jumped at the Soul Eater. Once she reached the monster, she slashed the side of its head with her new Dragon Nails, as the cursed flames surrounding her body dealt extra damage to the monster.

The Soul Eater came crashing down to the deck of the floating ship with a loud screech after that, and I came charging in, still yelling as loud as I could. I slammed my shield right into the boss monster's face as soon as I reached it, then I unleashed a massive burst of cursed flames upon it. The flames engulfed the Soul Eater's entire body, causing it to screech and writhe in pure agony.

Roxanne, Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and everyone else who was present looked on with silence and mixed opinions. This round of silence was eventually ended by Malty, who spoke about the events she was witnessing in her usual smug tone of voice. "He's basically turned into a wild beast, and that is certainly not how a hero is supposed to fight. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later though, given how much time he spends around filthy mutts, lizards, and god only knows what else."

Naturally, Roxanne turned towards Malty and started glaring at her the second she heard all of that. However, instead of falling victim to her rage the way me and Plum seemed to have done, she remained calm, and started questioning the humans that stood before her. Still, her tone and her words were anything but friendly. "Are any of you planning on getting back into this battle? Or are you just going to stand there like the weak cowards you are?"

Hearing the sound of her voice, the three heroes and all of the respective party members turned to face Roxanne right away, listening to her questions. Most of them remained silent, but of course, Malty glared back at Roxanne and insulted her yet again, staying true to form. "It seems the shield hero still has yet to properly discipline his flea bitten mongrel. Perhaps I should take it upon myself and do it for him."

"TRY IT! I DARE YOU!" Roxanne let her own rage show for a brief moment, but it was still more then enough to make almost every single human on board the ship flinch. "He may just be a wild beast to you, but right now, lord Damian is the only true hero on this boat! In fact, he's always been the only true hero in this entire damn kingdom! He and Plum might not be themselves right now, but that's only because their doing everything they can to save us all, regardless of the risk to themselves! Personally, I don't believe that any of you are even worth saving, but for some reason, lord Damian does! No matter how useless, annoying, and completely idiotic you all are!"

"Growing up, I never knew much about the previous sword, spear, and bow heroes, but I'm sure their all spinning in their graves right now! There's no way any of them could've been worse then all of you! Quite frankly, those legendary weapons are wasted on pathetic humans like you who haven't the slightest idea of how to use them!" Roxanne continued to yell at, and chew out Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, then she turned her attention back towards Malty, unleashing her fury upon the princess this time. "And as for you, you spoiled, rotten, disgusting, irritating, too good for anyone else daddy's girl, you are definitely, without a single shadow of a doubt, the worst human being I have ever had the misfortune to know! You call me a mongrel, and you call lord Damian a wild beast, but your more of an animal then anyone in this entire kingdom! Maybe even the entire world!"

Having finished her rant, Roxanne took a moment to catch her breath, while the three cardinal stooges and their parties continued to look at her and slowly process all the words that has just come out of her mouth. As they did that, Roxanne began to experience some self doubt, turning back towards me and Plum, as we continued to fight against the Soul Eater in our states of pure, unending rage. _"Damn it. This is just like before, when we fought the Dragon Zombie. Lord Damian and Plum did all the heavy lifting back then, and their doing it all now too. All three of us have come a long way since our adventures together started, but...I wish I could do more. More for lord Damian, and more for my people." _The albino kitsune clenched her fists, feeling very frustrated that all she could do at this time was watch and hope for the best, and also found herself thinking back to when she lost Sasha, her parents, and all the other times she'd felt weak in her life.

Sadly, Roxanne received absolutely zero sympathy from the three cardinal stooges and their party members, as Motoyasu and Malty shot her some rather intense glares of their own. "Ya know what?! Why the hell should we help that bastard?! After everything he's done, its not right!" Motoyasu yelled at Roxanne, thinking back to our second day in this world, and how I raped Malty. Of course, I never actually did that and was falsely accused, but like the simpleton he was, he believed every single word that came out of the red headed princess' mouth.

"Indeed. Well said sir Motoyasu. This country doesn't need the shield, or those nasty slaves of his. I think that we should just let them all die here, and be rid of them once and for all." Malty added, crossing her arms, letting out a huff, and sounding far more angry then she was a minute ago.

"I don't know if Id go that far, but I definitely agree that it wouldn't feel right to help Damian out. I just cant forgive him for what he's done. Not at this point." Itsuki wasn't nearly as mad as the spear hero and the princess were, but he was still pretty pissed off, especially after everything Roxanne just said to them.

"Why are you even asking us for help if you really feel that way about us? You're Damian's slave, aren't you? So why don't you lend him a hand?" Ren questioned Roxanne, his tone and mindset pretty much the same as Itsuki's at that moment.

Roxanne was far too deep in thought to hear a single word they said to her, but those thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something else entirely, as she gasped in shock at what she was seeing. Before her very eyes, both the Skull Captain and the kraken got back up, and had their sights set on me. Neither me nor Plum had any knowledge of this though. We were both far too lost in our own rage to notice anything besides the Soul Eater we were fighting, and it didn't seem like the three cardinal stooges were planning on lifting even a single finger to help us out.

Therefore, Roxanne was left with only a single course of action, and after taking about ten seconds to snap herself out of her self doubt and put her game face back on, she was ready to move forward with that single course of action. She had no time to waste, so she quickly downed the last MP restoring potion she had on her, then pointed her sword at the pair of monsters, and kissed the bracelet that I made her for good luck. "You wont touch them! Rising Tornado!" Using her wind magic, Roxanne created a large and powerful tornado between me and the monsters.

This instantly blocked their path leading to me, and forced them to back off. At the same time, Roxanne's tornado was also strong enough to bring Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and all of their fellow adventurers to their knees. They all knew that if they didn't get down, the tornado would blow them all right off of the ship, and send them plummeting all the way down to the ground below.

The Skull Captain and the kraken turned their full attention towards Roxanne, but she gave them absolutely no time to do anything else. "I'm betting you two aren't nearly as durable without your boss! Lets find out! Fox Robe!" Taking full advantage of an undead monster's greatest weakness, Roxanne wrapped her sword, and her entire body in her blue flames, and her extreme desire to keep me and Plum safe was making them burn brighter then ever before. She then charged full speed at the Skull Captain, and with one strike from her burning sword, she sliced the undead captain clean in half at its waist, causing the two severed halves of the skeleton's body to catch fire and burn up immediately.

The Skull Captain's body hit the ground about a second later, and this time, it didn't get back up. After seeing this, Roxanne turned her glare towards the kraken, as the flames of her Fox Robe continued to burn brightly all over her body and weapon. "You're next! Now Fox Fire, and Wind Slicing Sword!" Roxanne aimed her left hand at one of the kraken's tentacles, and gripped the handle of her sword in her right hand, making her wind magic swirl around the blade, as she cast two spells at the exact same time. From out of her left hand, a large fox made out of her blue flames emerged, flew straight for one of the tentacles, bit down on it, and made the whole tentacle burst into flames. At the same time, Roxanne swung her wind and flame coated blade at another tentacle, sending a powerful slashing attack at it that severed the tentacle from the rest of the kraken's body.

Both tentacles fell to the ground and perished shortly after that, as the flames surrounding Roxanne's body finally went out, and her tornado came to an end as well, as she took a moment to catch her breath. Despite the fact that she was currently fighting on her own, she was doing fairly well for herself. Even the three cardinal stooges were shocked, and a bit envious of everything they'd just seen from the lone kitsune.

Just then, another loud screech from the Soul Eater made everyone turn their attention back to me. The boss monster finally managed to escape from my raging inferno, starting to float and glare at me again, as I jumped back from it, still under the influence of my Rage Shield.

Seeing this, Motoyasu gripped the handle of his spear and grit his teeth, looking and feeling more frustrated then he'd ever been before. "Rgh...C'mon guys! Lets show this fox girl that we're anything but useless!" With that, he charged right back into the fray, though his motivation for doing so was simply to disprove everything that Roxanne said about him, Ren, and Itsuki earlier.

The same was true for Ren and Itsuki, as they too rejoined the battle at hand. Ren charged at the Soul Eater with Motoyasu, while Itsuki stayed back and fired as many arrows as he could at the monster. The three heroes unleashed all the power they could muster on the Soul Eater, but just like before, their efforts yielded very few results. "I hate to say it, but it looks like we're still not doing much damage to it." Ren commented during a break in their assault, but that didn't stop the three of them from trying, as they continued to attack the monster over and over again, determined to prove Roxanne wrong.

This was easier said then done though, and in more ways then one. The three cardinal stooges were so distracted with restoring their own egos, that they'd forgotten that I wasn't the only one lost in a fit of pure rage. Just as Ren was about to thrust his sword into the side of the Soul Eater's body, Plum suddenly rushed in from out of nowhere, slamming into Ren with every ounce of her strength, sending him flying right into the mast of the ship with a loud BANG, and then striking at the Soul Eater's body herself.

Motoyasu and Itsuki could only look on in continued shock, as Ren was sent flying right into the base of the ship's mast, hitting the wooden surface incredibly hard. "Ow...Multiple bones are definitely broken." Was all that the sword hero could say through the pain, as he slowly fell to the ground, and the healer of his party proceeded to run over to their hero and cast healing making upon him.

Even with everything that was happening around her, Roxanne couldn't help but giggle at Plum's handy work, as well as her own handy work regarding the three heroes as a whole. "Humans are so easy to manipulate, and they just don't realize it." She intentionally angered Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, knowing that their egos would drive them to rejoin the battle and try to prove her wrong. However, she lost her grin of satisfaction as soon as she turned towards me, and her satisfaction was quickly replaced with even more concern. "Lord Damian. Please be okay."

At the moment, I was just standing perfectly still, as the flames of my Rage Shield continued to burn all around the shield itself. It was a much different story inside my head though, as I continued to fight against the Rage Shield's hold on me.

In the middle of my struggling, amidst the flames of the Rage Shield, I once again heard the voice of the dragon. "You'll pay!"

I heard it loud and clear, then clenched my fists as tightly as I could, and yelled right back at the dragon. "Shut up! This is my body damn it! I really am sorry about what happened to you, but I am no one's puppet!"

"I will make you pay!" Was the only response I got from the dragon, as his rage continued to burn, and his hold on me remained strong.

I kept on struggling as much as I could though, trying with all my might to break free from the grip of the dragon's rage, but I didn't seem to be getting anywhere at all. That is, until I felt a very familiar presence appear in my mind. I then slowly calmed myself down, and turned to see who or what was there.

It turned out to be an image of Roxanne, though it wasn't the real Roxanne. Still, it helped a lot. She gave me a warm smile, and spoke the exact words that I needed to hear at that moment. "Ill always love and believe in you lord Damian."

As I listened to her, the flames of rage slowly went out. "Roxanne..."

Just then, I heard another familiar voice in my mind, turning to see that an image of Plum had manifested itself before me as well. "You'll never be alone again lord Damian. Not with us around."

"Plum..." Suddenly, the dark space I was in started filling up with good, comforting memories. Memories of my time with Roxanne, Plum, and even my family back in my home world. "Everyone...You've all been there for me when I needed it most." My rage slowly faded away, and was quickly replaced with feelings of warmth, comfort, and determination. With these feelings flowing through my body, I turned back to the images of the dragon in my mind, and proceeded to glare and yell at them. "I wont let you control me!" I then raised my Rage Shield up, glaring and yelling at it too. "Starting now, I'm in control, and you will obey me!"

The images of the dragon vanished instantly, and were replaced with my upgrade tree. It once again changed from white to red, but this time, something else happened too. My entire upgrade tree began to surge with a brand new power, as a single icon stuck out in the middle of all that power, then it quickly branched off, revealing a total of seven completely new icons to me. And among them, one of them started to shine with the new power, granting me a brand new and extremely powerful skill. It also showed me how to utilize this new skill, and I did well to familiarize myself with the steps I was shown.

Once that was done, my eyes stopped glowing red, and I couldn't help smiling at everything that had just transpired before my very eyes. "Thank you. Ill use it well." I finally shook off my rage, and came back to reality, having finally gained control over my Rage Shield and its power.

Now that I was back to normal, Plum also snapped out of her fit of rage and returned to normal not even ten seconds after I did. Still, all the non-stop attacking she did while she was enraged left her feeling a little winded. So, just a second after she was freed from said rage, she fell to one knee and started panting slightly, but managed to keep herself from falling to the ground completely. "Ugh...My head...My stomach...Lord Damian, Roxanne, what happened to me just now?"

Upon seeing that both me and Plum were back to our normal selves, Roxanne smiled instantly, as a few small tears of joy escaped from her eyes. "Lord Damian, Plum, your both okay. Thank goodness. You two really have to stop scaring me like this though."

I glanced at both of my companions, and smiled once again, relieved to see that they were both alright. I was also a bit surprised to see that Plum was effected by the Rage Shield's influence too at first, but then I remembered that she swallowed almost all of that purple crystal that came from the Dragon Zombie's body. I knew we'd have to address that at some point in the future, but for the time being, I had another issue to address. "I'm sorry I made you worry again Roxanne, and I'm sorry I got you involved in that rage filled mess Plum, but everything's okay now. I'm finishing this." I said to them, then turned back to the Soul Eater, lost my smile, glared at the creature, and held my Rage Shield out in front of me, aiming it right at the monster.

The Soul Eater glared right back at me, and let out another loud screech, looking and sounding ready for more. Much more. Everyone else looked at me too, all of them wondering what I had up my sleeve.

To start things off, I activated one of my old favorites from my list of skills. "Shield Prison!"

In a flash, my prison of shields appeared all around the Soul Eater, trapping it inside. Straight away, the boss monster thrashed about, trying to break free from its imprisonment, letting out screech after screech the whole time, and glaring at me through the gaps between the shields.

I glared right back at the monster, as I proceeded to activate phase two. "Burn in hell! Change Shield!" Just like that, my Shield Prison was transformed into an oven. Every shield that made up my Shield Prison transformed into perfect copies of my Rage Shield on the inside, then they all unleashed huge bursts of cursed flames upon the Soul Eater.

The boss monster was scorched mercilessly from every direction, and its screeches of pure agony were louder then ever. As this went on, the Shield Prison that had the Soul Eater trapped started floating in mid air.

"Pray for mercy and scream in pain as much as you wish, but it shall all be swallowed up by the dark grasp of the underworld! Suffer in anguish as your entire body is stabbed and skewered, then be dragged down to the depths of hell! Behold my new finishing move! I cast the Iron Maiden!" The currently red gemstone on the front of my shield began to glow, activating the third and final phase of my new skill.

Everyone suddenly looked up in shock and awe immediately after that, as the dark clouds in the sky quickly formed a vortex, and several bolts of purple colored lightning appeared from the center. Seconds later, the sky itself changed from dark red to dark purple, and in the center of the vortex of clouds appeared the Iron Maiden itself. It was huge, frightening, extremely deadly, and had more and more bolts of lightning raining down all around it.

The Iron Maiden slowly opened its doors up wide, and my Shield Prison containing the Soul Eater floated up to it, slowly moving inside upon reaching the giant torture device. The Iron Maiden's eyes started to glow red, as the doors began to squeeze shut around my Shield Prison.

"Die." Was the only word I spoke at that point, clenching my free fist tightly. A split second after I did that, the Iron Maiden's doors slammed shut, skewering everything inside with its numerous large spikes all over.

Everyone and everything fell completely silent after that, as the Iron Maiden's eyes gave off an even brighter glow then a moment ago. Then, after nearly a whole minute of silence, both the Iron Maiden and my Shield Prison slowly faded away, revealing to all of us what had become of the Soul Eater.

The boss monster was covered from nose to tail in burn marks, blood, and holes, and it wasn't moving or making any sounds at all. The Soul Eater was dead. Its HP had hit zero, and its body fell out of the sky, heading all the way down to the base of the mountain below.

With that, my skill came to an end, and the sky return to normal, or as normal as it can be during a wave of catastrophe. Additionally, my shield returned to its normal form, and my armor did as well. "Farewell monster. Ill see you in hell one day, but definitely not today." I spoke out loud, getting my smile back, but then slowly started to fall over, feeling more then a little drained after everything Id gone through during this wave.

Thankfully, Roxanne was right there, ready to catch me. She held me up, and smiled at me once again. "Lord Damian, your the best."

"That was so amazing lord Damian. I had no idea you could do things like that." Plum added, walking over and smiling at me too, having downed her last potion to restore the majority of her lost stamina.

I was quick to follow her example, grabbing one of our few remaining potions from my bag, and drinking one to restore most of my lost strength and MP as well. Once that was done, I slowly got back on my feet, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew...Honestly, neither did I Plum, but I know one thing for damn sure. I love this shield." I turned my head, smiling at my shield, and kissed its gemstone. At that moment, all the problems and hardships the legendary shield put me through since I got it melted away, and I felt extremely grateful to have been given it of the four cardinal weapons.

My two girls couldn't help giggling a little when they saw me do all of that, as they both found it to be a bit silly. Even so, at the same time, they were both very happy to see that I was back in high spirits, and had grown much stronger after everything that had transpired aboard the floating pirate ship.

Meanwhile, the three cardinal stooges and their parties had just finished processing everything they'd just witnessed, but some of them were still having a hard time believing it. "Well Ill be damned. So that's what the shield is capable of." Itsuki was the first among them to speak up, but the others weren't nearly as convinced as he appeared to me.

"So basically, he cheated." Ren said in a tone of disbelief, having just gotten back up after being healed almost completely by his healer, and not fully believing that the power I just demonstrated was entirely my own.

Motoyasu was the worst though. He glared at me, and spoke with a tone of anger and envy. "Tch. You can bet things will be different next time."

"Your right. Next time, me and my girls wont bother saving your sorry asses." I was quick to offer the other three heroes and their respective party members a retort, as me and my own party members stopped smiling and turned to face them.

Upon hearing my retort, all of them glared at us, and Motoyasu started to yell at me in his usual fashion. "Rgh! Don't act like your the hero of this wave Damian! I don't know what the hell kind of cheap ass tactic you used to obtain that power, but I could've one shot that Soul Eater anytime I wanted to! We didn't need you here! Ya got that?!"

"As usual Motoyasu, you are so full of crap! If we hadn't shown up, you'd all still be fighting pointless battles against the figurehead, Skull Captain, and kraken like the idiots you are! The three of us happen to be in a hurry though, so we didn't have all day for all of you to be wasting everyone's time! And for the record, we also didn't have to save you from the Soul Eater! It would've been far easier and more convenient for us to just let that monster kill you, and then finish it off ourselves! I admit, that power I used to kill it surprised even me, but I'm sure the three of us would've been just fine on our own, with or without it, unlike you!" I glared and yelled right back at Motoyasu, and I really did believe that me and my companions could've found some way to finish off the Soul Eater without my newly acquired Iron Maiden skill, but I was still extremely grateful that we didn't have to.

"If that's really true, then why'd you bother helping us at all?! Huh?!" Itsuki glared and yelled at me in response, as he and all the other humans quickly grew furious at me after hearing everything I just got done saying to them.

Before answering him, I took a deep breath, and calmed myself back down, but still kept my glare locked on Motoyasu, Ren, Itsuki, Malty, and all their other unnamed allies. "I'm not gonna bother wasting my breath explaining why I felt the need to save all you morons, but let me give you two small pieces of advice. First off, when we get back to the capital, you should all go see Melty, get down on your knees, and thank her for your lives. Secondly, I suggest you all find some way to get much stronger then you are now, because the waves and the monsters in them are getting stronger, and we wont be helping you out a second time. You can all bet on that."

Naturally, none of the human adventurers were pleased with my threat, but the part about Melty did confuse most of them. They all began to wonder what Melty of all people had to do with me and my motives. All except for Malty that is. Upon just hearing Melty's name, the scarlet haired princess began to grit her teeth, and grumble to herself, as her entire body shook with pure, blistering fury.

However, before anyone could yell at anyone else, Roxanne's ears and tails suddenly twitched, and she let out a gasp. She was sensing something, and she almost couldn't believe what it was. "This isn't over! Look there!" Roxanne yelled out, then quickly turned, unsheathing her sword once again and gaining everyone's attention once more.

This caught all of us completely off guard, as we all turned in the same direction as Roxanne, and were shocked by what we saw. At the base of the ship's mast, a second Soul Eater was slowly rising up from the shadows, letting out a loud screech that perfectly matched the screech of its fallen comrade.

"Another one?! Are you kidding me?!" Itsuki shouted the moment he saw the second Soul Eater, his eyes just as wide with shock as the rest of ours were at that moment.

"I've definitely never seen anything like this in the game before." Ren added, clearly still thinking of all of this as some kind of game.

As for me, I instantly moved out in front of Roxanne and Plum, then raised my shield at the second boss monster. I wasn't sure if Id be able to cast Iron Maiden a second time in a row, especially so soon after I just got such a powerful skill, but I didn't see any other way for us to beat a second Soul Eater, given how exhausted and drained we all were. So I began to focus right away, hoping that Id be able to cast Iron Maiden again, and that it would be able to kill this Soul Eater as easily as it killed the first one.

While I was doing that, the second Soul Eater finished rising up from the shadows, then floated above the deck of the ship and screeched out at all of us once again. But then, from out of nowhere, a barrage of blades made of powerful light magic came raining down over the monster. The blades stabbed the Soul Eater's body all over, bringing a very abrupt end to its life in the blink of an eye, while all the blades that missed its body stuck into the deck of the ship all around it instead.

Needless to say, every last one of us were flabbergasted and confused for the umpteenth time the moment we saw all of this take place. An exact replica of the monster that had given all of us such a hard time was brought down mere seconds after it had spawned, and by a single attack no less, but before any of us could question this very unexpected outcome, we all suddenly heard the sound of a brand new voice.

"How very disappointing." The voice in question definitely sounded like that of a woman's, then, from the sky above where the blades of light had rained down earlier, a lone figure came down, and landed on the deck of the ship in a huge cloud of dust. The dust settled not even two seconds later, and we all saw that the body of the second Soul Eater had been reduced to ashes, the blades of light were all gone, and standing in their place was a woman with long dark hair, dressed in a kimono, and carrying a pair of war fans, one in each hand. "You actually had trouble with weak creatures such as these? Are you really the heroes holding the world's fate in their hands?" The woman looked around at all of us and began to question us right away, her tone one of condescension.

All eyes had fallen on her, but no one spoke up. We all heard what she said, and how patronizing it sounded, but many of us were still trying desperately to process everything that had just happened in the past thirty seconds. Additionally, those of us that had moved passed that weren't sure if the woman that now stood before us was friend or foe.

While we were all scratching our heads, not literally of course, the woman proceeded to take a few steps closer to us, or more specifically, closer to me. "There is only one here worthy of being called a hero. So tell me, what is your name?" The woman looked directly into my eyes as she spoke, her tone growing slightly more friendly, but only slightly.

As I listened to her words, I stared straight back into her eyes, trying to get a read on her, but this quickly proved to be easier said then done. However, one thing in particular did stick out to me. Normally whenever I even talk to humans, my guard goes up instinctively, but I noticed that it wasn't happening with this woman. I wasn't entirely sure of the reason for this just yet, but I was already forming some suspicions. Still, none of this prevented me from answering her in my usual manner, grinning big, striking my demon lord pose, and covering my right eye. "I am Damian! Damian Abyss! A demon lord, and the shield hero!" No matter how tired I was, I always had energy for that.

Roxanne and Plum were both pretty used to this by now, so they both glanced at me and smiled, but then immediately turned their eyes back towards the woman in black, losing their smiles. At the same time, Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their parties weren't at all amused with my little performance, as many of them sighed and shook their heads in a disapproving way.

The woman did look a little surprised for a moment, but she never lost her composure for even a second. "A demon lord you say? You don't seem very demonic to me, but it makes no difference to me. At any rate, I suppose I should introduce myself as well. I am called Glass, and that's all you need to know for now. Feel free to consider me your enemy." Glass said to me, smiled, then moved one of her war fans to cover the lower half of her face.

I lost my grin and stopped posing as soon as I heard Glass' last several words, as me, Roxanne, Plum, and everyone else came to the realization that this fight still wasn't over. And after seeing just a single demonstration of Glass' power, some of us were starting to miss the Soul Eaters. "Enemy? But why?" I asked Glass, still unable to shake the strange feeling that I was getting from her, and I still wasn't entirely sure what it was.

"That's not important. Now may I suggest that we begin?" Glass refused to answer my question, then asked me one of her own, as she opened both of her war fans, and held one of them up above her head. "The only battle of this wave worthy of the name." She lowered the war fan above her head as she continued to speak, and pointed it right at me, never once losing her cool or her smile.

Roxanne gripped the handle of her sword, Plum bared her claws, I raised my shield, and we all narrowed our eyes at Glass. We were all trying our very best to mentally prepare ourselves to face this rather daunting opponent in battle, and hoped that we could somehow pull off another miracle, as nearly all of our instincts were telling us that we were going to need one now more then ever.

**Now that's what I'm talkin about! Looks like Damian has finally started to awaken his true powers as a demon lord, and as the shield hero. Not only that, but it also looks like some humans have earned themselves a place in his heart. Or maybe they've been there all along. Who knows? I do! Maybe a few of you out there have a pretty good idea yourselves too. And for those of you that haven't a clue, don't worry. All will be made clear when all the pieces fall into place, and Damian finally crosses paths with certain individuals.**

**Although, it looks like he may never get the chance. Just when he, Roxanne, and Plum thought they were in the clear, disaster had to go and rear its ugly head. However, this particular disaster is anything but ugly, am I right people?**

**This Glass woman is a vision of true beauty for sure, but like the saying goes. Every rose has its thorns. And something tells me this rose's thorns are gonna leave one hell of a scar on Damian, his girls, and all other parties involved in the upcoming battle. In more ways then one.**

**Do Damian, Roxanne, and Plum have what it takes to stand up to Glass, or is their ship finally sunk? If our heroes fail, then what will become of their allies still defending the village, and of course Sasha? Will Damian's new power be a match for Glass, or will this fan wielding woman prove to be more then even the Iron Maiden can handle? And what exactly is this strange feeling that Damian seems to be getting from Glass? Could it be that this woman is more then she appears to be?**

**Find out next time! Right here! And hopefully science will come through for us all and find a cure of this virus sooner rather then later. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm definitely ready for this madness to end.**

**Until next time, stay healthy, stay alert, and take good care of yourselves and those close to you. I know Damian and I sure will.**


	14. Ch 13 - A Kitsune's Light

**Okay, before anything else, Id just like to say that I'm sorry this chapter took so long. It turned out longer then I thought it would be when I first started writing it, and as you can probably already tell, its the longest chapter of my fic so far. Plus, my family has a lot of birthdays and other special occasions during the month of May. I'm hoping that no future chapter ever gets longer then this one, but I'm unable to see the future, so we'll see what happens.**

**Anyway, here it is, and hopefully it was worth the wait. I also hope all of you are still doing well in the midst of this worldwide situation. I know I am, for the most part. Id be doing better if the new Fairy Tail video game didn't get pushed back again though, but what are ya gonna do?**

**Id also like to take this time to sincerely thank all of you who've continued to read and support my fic up to this point. I really appreciate all of you giving my fic and chance and sticking with it for as long as you have. Particularly my good friend Starlord Master, and the man behind the inspiration for my fic, theoneandonlyedster. If you haven't already checked out his fic, Rise of a True Shield Hero (Redux), then I highly recommend giving it a read, as well as his most recent work Isekai Quintet (OC Shield-Hero). Both are awesome and very entertaining fics.**

**LEMON WARNING. The following chapter contains a lemon, but please don't let that put you off. The majority of this chapter is still made up of scenes and information that is very important and relevant to the story. And if you're someone who happens to enjoy a lemon or two, then consider this a bonus. Granted, I'm no stranger to writing lemons, but they're not exactly my strong suit, so I cant promise that it'll be the best one you'll ever read. Still, like the rest of my fic, I added it in because I wanted to, and I put forth my best effort while writing it. And just like my good friend theoneandonlyedster, I write stories to have fun and unleash my imagination, not for recognition or a future in this line of work.**

**Well, I think that's everything I wanted to say for now. So, without any further delays, please read on and enjoy.**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters, events, or locations. I only own my OC's. Damian Abyss, Roxanne, Plum, and more to come later on.**

Chapter 13 - A Kitsune's Light

At first, it didn't seem like a tall order, but me, Roxanne, and Plum were once again reminded that there was no such thing as smooth sailing in this world. And right now, that expression was more true then ever for the three of us.

Due to the never ending idiocy of Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, the wave of catastrophe that we planned on getting through quickly ended up dragging on for more then four hours, and we all found ourselves on board a flying pirate ship as a result. The three cardinal stooges couldn't decide on which monster to fight on the ship, so me and my companions were forced to figure it out for them. We managed to spawn a powerful boss monster known as a Soul Eater, and it didn't go down easy, to put things mildly. Things got a little hazy for me during that battle after I equipped my Rage Shield, but thanks to Roxanne, Plum, and even my family back in my world of origin, I was able to awaken a brand new skill, the Iron Maiden, and use it to finish off the Soul Eater in a single attack.

After the Soul Eater's dead body fell to the ground, we all thought that we were in the clear, but this wave was still far from finished with us. Before any of us had any time to recover, a second Soul Eater spawned. You wouldn't think that things could get any worse from there, but you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Out of nowhere, the second Soul Eater was killed by a mysterious woman who introduced herself as Glass. She claimed to somehow know me, but Id never met her before in my entire life. She appeared to be human, but I wasn't entirely sure about that. Two things about Glass were as clear as her namesake though.

One, she was far stronger then the Soul Eater that had just given me, my two companions, the three cardinal stooges, and their respective parties a very hard time. Two, she wanted a fight to the death with me, and we guessed that she had absolutely no intention of letting me refuse. To make matters worse, me, Roxanne, Plum, and all the others were completely exhausted after our battle against the first Soul Eater, but Glass was looking as fresh as a spring flower after killing the second one. All of us knew that we'd better come up with some kind of plan, and fast, or this may very well be our last stand.

"She...She took out that Soul Eater in one hit. Just how strong is this woman?" Motoyasu questioned, still in a state of shock, trying to process the events that had just unfolded before our very eyes, much like the majority of the other humans present on the flying ship.

"If you ask me, she's just showing off. There's no way she can have very much power left after something like that." Ren answered, having shaken off his own shock, and was now narrowing his eyes at Glass, mentally and physically preparing himself for yet another battle.

However, neither of them could sense magic power the way Roxanne could. If they could, they'd definitely be shaking the way that she was at that moment. Roxanne was barely able to hold onto her sword with her hands shaking the way they were, as she looked at Glass with eyes filled with concern, and a few beads of sweat slowly traveled down the sides of her face. "This woman...She has so much magic power. How is something like this even possible?"

I didn't take my eyes off Glass, but I still listened to Roxanne's every word, and they left me feeling more then a little uneasy. I couldn't sense the magic power of others myself, but if Glass' power was enough to frighten Roxanne, then it was definitely no joke. "Try to calm down Roxanne. Letting her rattle you wont do us any good. There's no such thing as an unbeatable foe. She must have some kind of weakness that we can exploit." I did my best to put Roxanne's mind at ease, knowing from my many hours of anime watching and video gaming that everyone has a weakness. I just hoped that we could find Glass' before she finished us all off like she did to the second Soul Eater.

Roxanne heard my words loud and clear, then did her best to calm herself back down, taking a single deep breath, gripping the handle of her sword a little tighter, and glaring right at Glass. At the same time, Plum was glaring at Glass too, and growling at her a little as well. Like the rest of us, Plum was unable to sense Glass' magic power levels, and after her not so little outburst of rage, she was having a hard time sensing Glass' emotions at that moment. Still, none of that changed the fact that Glass was our enemy, and my two companions were prepared to fight tooth and nail to ensure that the three of us walked out of this wave together.

Some rather ominous silence fell over the floating ship several seconds after that, as no one dared to make a move or even raise their voice. In the end, it was Glass who finally broke the silence, speaking to me in a perfectly calm and collected tone. "Why don't you attack demon lord Damian? Why not try sending those servants of yours at me first?" The woman in black asked me, glancing at the three cardinal stooges as she spoke.

Naturally, the three of them didn't take too kindly to any of that at all. "Servants?! What the hell?!" Ren wasted no time raising his voice after that, shooting a very angry and displeased glare in Glass' direction.

"Did you really just call us Damian's servants?!" Itsuki did the same, immediately moving to Ren's side.

"Do you seriously think that we'd take orders from him?!" Finally, Motoyasu quickly joined them without so much as a second thought, not that that was anything new for him.

However, at the same time, Glass' questions had the opposite effect on me and Roxanne. Both of us knew very well that we were in a dangerous situation, but we couldn't help snickering to ourselves at least a little after hearing someone call the three cardinal morons my servants.

That was all the motivation that Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki needed to turn their glares towards us, as their anger and displeasure continued to rise. "Are you two kidding me?! Why the hell are you laughing?!" Itsuki yelled at us, feeling more insulted then he'd ever been in his entire life.

Me and Roxanne managed to calm ourselves down after about twenty seconds, but we still smirked at the three of them after we stopped snickering. "What? No need to get so defensive you three." Roxanne said to the three cardinal stooges in a sarcastic tone, as the fear she was feeling a few moments ago had almost completely disappeared by this point.

"Honestly, you three shouldn't be so offended. There's no way Id ever team up with humans, especially three losers like you." I added, insulting Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki even further, but I did so with an idea in mind.

If there wasn't a fire in the eyes of the three cardinal stooges before, there was definitely one there now, as the glares of all three of them intensified, and they all turned back towards Glass. "Rgh! That does it! Screw you Damian! And screw you too Glass lady! We'll show both of you who the real losers are!" Motoyasu yelled as loud as he could, as he, Ren, and Itsuki all gripped the handles of their respective legendary weapons, and prepared to strike Glass down right then and there.

Mere seconds after that, every member of their parties quickly surrounded Glass on all sides, making it nearly impossible for her to dodge the upcoming attacks of their respective heroes. They weren't too happy about all the insults that were being thrown at their heroes either, and they were almost as determined as the three cardinal stooges were to prove me and Glass wrong.

With the stage set, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki channeled every last drop of magic power they had left into their legendary weapons, causing the gemstones in each weapon to glow. "Meteor Slash!" Ren started their attack off, slashing his sword in Glass' direction, and sending a pure energy based slashing attack directly at her.

"Meteor Thrust!" Motoyasu was next, thrusting his spear at Glass, and firing a beam of pure energy from the tip of his weapon as a result.

"Meteor Shot!" Itsuki topped off their triple strike by firing an arrow made of pure energy straight at Glass as well, and just like Ren and Motoyasu's attacks, his attack flew at Glass with plenty of anger behind it.

Although, despite the situation she now found herself in, Glass made absolutely no attempts to dodge, block, or counter the attacks that were thrown at her. In fact, she just stood perfectly still, and maintained the smile that had been present on her face from the moment she appeared before us all.

All three attacks hit their mark a split second later, resulting in a bright flash of light that made me have to avert my eyes for a moment. As soon as the light died down, I immediately looked again to see what the end result was, and I was shocked by what I saw, letting out a small gasp. I knew that their attacks wouldn't amount to much, but Glass didn't take any damage at all. Not even a tiny amount. Id been able to see Glass' HP bar since she appeared, but I couldn't make out much else. Her HP bar was incredibly buggy, and next to her level all I saw were two question mark symbols. It reminded me of when me and my party fought against the dragon zombie, but I was still able to see that monster's HP go down when it took damage, so this left me with even more questions then I had when Glass appeared before us out of nowhere.

"Honestly, is that all you've got?" Glass asked the three cardinal stooges, continuing to simply stand in the middle of the circle their party members had formed around her. Then, without bothering to wait for a response, Glass raised her two fans, held them out on either side of her body, and her entire body began to glow with magic power. "Zero-Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons!" While her magic power surged all around her, Glass began a rather elegant dance routine, resulting in a powerful attack that knocked them all flat on their backs and caused them a great deal of damage as well.

Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and every last one of their respective party members all fell to the deck of the ship very hard, letting out lord screams of pain as they did. Me, Roxanne, and Plum were all shocked once more by Glass' demonstration of her power, as everyone else's HP was extremely close to zero after just one attack from her, and the joy that me and Roxanne got from Glass' earlier questions had completely vanished by that point.

"As I was saying before, you three are nothing more then mere servants." Glass said in a rather condescending tone, looking down at Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, and continuing to smile the entire time.

All three of them continued to glare at her, trying desperately to get back on their feet, but the pain was just too much for them by that point. "Damn...How did she do that?" Itsuki questioned, unable to stop himself from panting though. The same could be said about Ren and Motoyasu too. Their fatigue had finally gotten the better of them, and just like that, the three cardinal stooges were out of this fight.

I let out a small sigh after that, not expecting them to put up much of a fight against Glass to begin with, but the idea that I came up with earlier did still provide me with some useful information. It was a simple idea. Goad the three cardinal idiots into attacking Glass with their best shots, then watch closely as Glass took their attacks and delivered one of her own right back, and hope that Id learn some useful information about Glass in the process. Unfortunately, all that I learned was that pure energy based attacks are the wrong way to go against Glass, and that she doesn't seem to rely on any magical element or energy that I've seen in this world before. Still, something else did make me at least a little curious. Glass killed a Soul Eater in one hit, and she could've easily done the same to the three cardinal stooges and their party members, but she didn't. As such, I found myself wondering _"Why didn't she?"_

Now that the sword, spear, and bow heroes were out of her way, Glass once again turned her attention and her gaze back towards me, looking and sounding ready for more. Much more. "I hope you plan on entertaining me at least a little demon lord."

Hearing her words, I snapped out of my thoughts, and raised my shield as I narrowed my eyes at her. "Normally I'm all for a good fight, but for some reason its different with you. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but for some reason, Id really rather not fight you." That weird feeling I got ever since I first laid eyes on Glass refused to go away, and I still had no idea what it was or why it was there. However, since she wanted a fight, I was once again thankful that I was the shield hero. Harming or killing others wasn't exactly my strong suit, so I wasn't too worried about doing either to her.

That being said, I still had to find some kind of weakness that I could use against her if need be, so I decided to start by giving plant magic a try, and switched over to my Bio Plant Shield. "Even so, Ill do what I have to in order to ensure the safety of myself and my companions. Lets see how ya do against these!" I quickly grabbed three seeds out of my pocket, infused them with magic from my shield, then threw them all at Glass. Even though we were on the wooden deck of a pirate ship, all three of them took root straight away and grew into fairly large Venus flytrap type plant monsters in mere seconds. I was still working on them, but these were by far the strongest plant monsters Id been able to create so far.

All three of my plant monsters opened their giant mouths, and proceeded to bite down on Glass from three different angles. However, Glass was completely unfazed by this, once again refusing to make any sort of attempt to dodge the attacks that were thrown at her. Then, about five seconds after my plant monsters attacked, Glass raised just one of her fans, attacked, and blew all of them to pieces with just a single, lightning fast magic attack.

"Go now Roxanne! You too Plum! Show her what you've got!" I yelled out, quickly switching gears. The best plan I could come up with now was for me and my companions to try every different type of attack that we had at our disposal, while also giving Glass little to no time to process what was happening in between our strikes. Of course, I also remembered that none of us had very much magic power or stamina left, so we really had to make our attacks count.

"Fox Robe!" As she ran full speed towards Glass, Roxanne coated her sword and her entire body in red hot blue flames, then struck at the woman in black with all the strength she could muster, hoping to hurt her at least a little.

Sadly, Glass easily blocked Roxanne's sword with one of her fans in the blink of an eye, still not taking even a single step out of the spot she'd landed on when she first appeared. Glass then easily pushed Roxanne away from her, showing little to no interest in the kitsune's level of power.

This caused Roxanne to gasp, and stumble backwards a little, but she managed to stay on her feet and keep her glare locked on Glass through the flames of her own spell. All the while, Roxanne was still focusing all of her physical and magic sensing abilities on Glass, trying desperately to get some kind of a read on her.

Just then, Plum came charging in, still in her lizardwoman form, and preparing to strike Glass with one of the biggest and strongest spells in her arsenal. "Take this! Crystal Crusher!" Three giant crystals appeared around Plum as she ran straight for Glass, each one aglow with earth magic.

However, despite the overwhelming strength and size of Plum's attack, Glass was still able to easily parry said attack with just one of her fans, sending Plum crashing right into the port side of the ship. Once Plum was out of the way, Glass turned back to Roxanne, and swung one of her fans in her direction, creating a powerful shockwave that threatened to blow my dear companion right off the flying ship.

Thankfully, I ran out in front of her just in time to block most of the incoming shockwave with my shield, but I was forced to grit my teeth and dig my feet into the wooden deck of the ship as much as I could just to avoid getting blown off of the ship myself. In the midst of Glass' attack, I changed my shield once again, going for my Chimera Viper Shield this time. "Rgh...Snake Fang!" At my command, three large serpents emerged from my shield, all of them glaring and hissing at Glass as they bit down on her and sank their venomous fangs into her right arm, left shoulder, and the right side of her head.

All three snakes injected a large amount of venom into Glass' body, but even that completely failed to faze Glass, as she just stood there and didn't even flinch. "You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Glass said to me with another smile on her face, in the same calm and mildly condescending tone she'd been using since the beginning of this confrontation.

After that, I pulled my snakes back into my shield, Roxanne put out the flames surrounding her body, and Plum made all three of her giant crystals vanish, as all three of us quickly regrouped, and continued to glare at our powerful adversary. I then decided to take another look at Glass' HP bar, saw that it still hadn't gone down even a little, and came to two possible conclusions. "If my poison attack didn't do anything, then either you have incredibly high poison resistance, or you're not human. So which is it?" I asked the fan wielding woman, but already had a pretty good idea of the answer. My guess is that Glass wasn't human, which would explain the strange feeling Id been getting from her since she appeared. Normally my guard is on high whenever I even talk to a human, but I didn't feel that way with Glass at all.

Roxanne, Plum, and every adventurer around us that was still conscious heard my question, then all eyes once again fell on Glass. They were all beginning to wonder if Glass really was as human as she appeared to be, but that thought also made all of us wonder _"If Glass isn't human, then what is she?"_

Upon hearing my question, Glass lost her smile for a moment, but she got it back very quickly, refusing to allow her composure to waver. So she let out a few small giggles, and proceeded to dodge my question, answering me with a question of her own. "I could tell you, but where would be the fun in that? I might be more willing to tell you if you can manage to hurt me though." She said to me in yet another condescending tone, clearly indicating that she didn't believe me or my companions were capable of causing her even the tiniest amount of damage.

Glass' snide remarks were enough to make me, Roxanne, and Plum all glare at her again, but unlike the three cardinal stooges, we didn't let her goad us into attacking her recklessly. Still, we had to come up with some kind of new battle strategy, so I informed my companions of the first one that I could think of in the space of twenty seconds. "Roxanne, disappear and see if you can find a blind spot, but be sure to keep your distance from her. We don't know what else she's capable of. Plum, stay close to me for now, but don't let that stop you from attacking."

Roxanne and Plum both nodded at me, knowing what to do, and hoping that this would be the strategy that would finally grant us some kind of advantage. "Leave it to me lord Damian. Now Hide Mirage!" Roxanne activated her spell, and vanished right before our eyes, making herself completely invisible.

While Roxanne was sneaking around to Glass' blind spot, Plum aimed both of her Dragon Nails at Glass, and opened her mouth up as wide as she could at her as well. "Spike Arrows!" From her jaws and the tips of each of her claws, Plum fired a barrage of crystal spikes directly at the woman in black.

Sadly, just like most of our previous attacks, Glass effortlessly deflected every single one of Plum's Spike Arrows with only one of her two fans. They all came flying at her so quickly, but Glass didn't even blink as she knocked them all away. "A hundred arrows in under five seconds. How very admirable, but I'm afraid its still not enough."

Suddenly, a split second after Glass had finished speaking, Roxanne's voice could be heard several feet behind Glass to the left. "Wind Slicing Sword!" Using her wind magic, and remaining completely unseen, Roxanne sent her strongest wind based slashing attack flying at the fan wielding woman.

Once more, Glass proved to be an extremely skilled opponent, as she quickly blocked Roxanne's attack with her other fan, without even turning around to face it. "I expected so much more from a kitsune, but I suppose this level of power is to be expected from a kitsune with only five tails." Glass said in a cold, and almost disappointed tone.

Her words caused Roxanne to glare at her yet again, as her Hide Mirage spell came to an end. Glass' words also caused Roxanne to raise an eyebrow at her, wondering what exactly she was getting at with her kitsune talk.

But before Roxanne could question her about it, Glass held her two fans out on either side of her body, getting into the same stance she was in before she attacked Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their parties. It was clear that she was planning to use that very same attack against me and my party this time.

Seeing this, I knew that I had to act fast. So I quickly called out to Roxanne, moved closer to Plum, and switched over to my Siderite Shield. "Roxanne, get back over here now, and both of you stay behind me!" Once both of my companions were safely behind me, I held my shield out in front of me, and activated the strongest defensive spell I had. "Meteor Shield!" My shield gave off a brilliant green glow, forming a powerful barrier around me and my dear companions, as we all braced ourselves for Glass' spell.

"Zero-Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons!" Glass cast the same spell she used to defeat the three cardinal stooges earlier, and this time, she was really pouring it on. Also, as bad as this was for me and my party, I had to admit, Glass really was an amazing dancer.

She kept her attack going for almost a full thirty seconds without letting up, really forcing me to stay strong just to withstand it and keep my companions safe. Thankfully, she finally ended her onslaught after that, and I lowered my barrier immediately after I saw this, wanting to save as much magic power as I possibly could.

With her attack over for now, Glass took a single step towards me, still not looking or sounding winded at all. "I must say, I'm impressed you were able to withstand all of that. Now then, when exactly were you planning on showing me that flaming shield you've been wielding?" She asked me, making me realize that she must've been watching our fight against the first Soul Eater.

Upon hearing Glass' question, both Roxanne and Plum looked at little unsure at first, but after exchanging a glance, the two of them nodded at each other, then turned back towards me. "Lord Damian, as much as I hate to agree with our enemy, and even though you and Plum almost lost yourselves to it, I think you should use the Rage Shield." Roxanne said to me in a slightly concerned, but also very confident tone, looking at me with a facial expression to match.

"Yeah, show her what you can really do lord Damian. And don't worry about me. I'm pretty sure I can handle it this time." Plum added, giving me the exact same tone and expression, even though she was also consumed by the power of my Rage Shield earlier for some unknown reason.

I listened to the words from my girls, still a little unsure about using that shield myself, but I also realized that just like against the Soul Eater, it was our best shot. "Alright. Both of you stand back." While my girls were putting some distance between us, I took a deep breath and gathered my fortitude, remembering everything that I did the last time I used my Rage Shield to gain control over it. "I've got this. Now, Rage Shield!" My shield responded to my command immediately. The green gemstone on the front turned red, my upgrade tree covered my body, my shield burst into flames, transformed into the Rage Shield, and my armor even transformed into the demonic armor set that I had on earlier.

I seemed to be perfectly in control of my Rage Shield this time, but Plum wasn't so strong willed. Just like last time, her eyes began to glow red, she started growling like the dragon she was, and she went into full on rage mode. Despite being in her lizardwoman form, she still let out a very loud dragon roar, then ran full speed at Glass, her Dragon Nails raised and ready to shred Glass to ribbons.

Sadly, rage mode or not, Plum was still unable to lay even a single claw on Glass, as the woman in black easily blocked Plum's strike with one of her fans, then simply brushed her aside, despite Plum's fairly overwhelming level of physical strength. "This is a mildly interesting development, but we've been through this before. You cant touch me." Glass then lightly tapped Plum with her fan, sending her flying and slamming right into the stern side of the ship, and causing her to lose consciousness upon impact.

"Plum! No!" Roxanne yelled out, as both she and I could only watch all of that happen with stunned and very concerned expressions on our faces.

I turned back to Glass immediately after that, and started glaring at her, but was careful enough not to lose myself to the effects of my Rage Shield. "Take care of Plum and make sure she's okay Roxanne!" Once I was done instructing Roxanne, I held my blazing shield out in front of me, and charged straight towards Glass head on, yelling out a loud battle cry as I ran.

Remaining true to her nature, Glass didn't move or flinch even a little, and simply waved one of her fans in my direction, sending another powerful shockwave at me. However, unlike the last time this happened, I had very little difficulty avoiding being thrown off my feet, and since Id been struck by an enemy attack, my Rage Shield responded by blasting a large explosion of flames right at Glass. I hoped that this would do something, but what happened next made me gasp, as my eyes widened with shock.

"Come now. You can do better then that, cant you? These flames are too cold." Glass said to me through the cursed flames that had engulfed her entire body, then blew them all out with just a single swipe from one of her fans.

Seeing this, I quickly backed away from Glass, putting some distance between us again, as my shock was replaced with frustration. "Damn it. Just what are you?" I asked the fan wielding woman, almost positive that she wasn't human by this point.

Roxanne was very shocked, confused, and frustrated by all of this as well, as she too had no idea what Glass was, but was very sure that it was definitely not human. She never took her eyes off of the battle, but still managed to reach Plum and kneel down beside her, mentally hoping that both me and Plum would come out of this sane and in one piece. "Hang in there lord Damian. Please. I believe in you."

This time, Glass didn't bother answering me, and instead manifested a blade of light from one of her fans. She then held it out in front of her almost like a crossbow, and held her other fan over it, aiming her new attack at me. "Rupture-Stance Rondo: Tortoise Shell Cracker!" She fired the blade of light at me with plenty of speed and power behind it, and that name of this attack definitely didn't instill confidence in me.

Still, on instinct, I raised my shield to defend myself, and it seemed to work at first. However, Glass' attack pierced right through my shield, and struck my arm that was on the other side, shattering the armor that was on my arm, and causing me some major damage. Thankfully, my shield repaired itself immediately, but my HP was a different story, as I winced in extreme pain. "Ow! Damn it! That really hurt!" I yelled out, but then gasped to myself, realizing what I just said. "Wait a minute. That hurt? Just like the name implies, it must be defense piercing attack. Just what I needed right now." I said to myself in a sarcastic tone, then let out a heavy sigh, realizing that things just got a whole lot worse for me.

Seeing all of this, Roxanne's concern grew much more, causing her to let out a loud gasp. This was the first time she'd seen me get seriously hurt in a long time, and it became abundantly clear to her that Glass had the advantage over me.

"Interesting. Even that isn't enough to bring you down. Your defense really does live up to its reputation, but yes, you're right. That was an attack made specifically to deal with enemies you rely on defensive skills. Like you." Glass was nice enough to explain that much to me, but still far from nice enough to not hit me with her piercing attack again, which she was already planning on doing.

I grit my teeth as I gently rubbed my arm, trying to ease the pain as I responded to Glass' words. "Yeah, I got that. Thanks." I've seen this sort of thing plenty of times in video games, but what was rather surprising to me was that it seemed as though Glass had created that attack specifically to fight me. I had no idea why she seemed out to get me, but then again, this entire kingdom was out to get me, so I wasn't that surprised about having another enemy. The only real differences were that this enemy clearly wasn't human, and unlike the king and his three cardinal buffoons, this enemy was actually tough.

"Although, it seems that your cursed flames only respond to close quarter attacks, but the story is very different when it comes to ranged attacks. You must have more to offer then this. Stop holding out on me and hit me with your best shot demon lord." Glass smiled at me yet again, displaying absolutely no fear as she spoke to me.

In all honesty, I still didn't wanna hurt or fight with Glass, but she was making me more and more desperate with every minute that went by. After all the attacks she'd survived without so much as a scratch, I wasn't even sure if my newly acquired Iron Maiden would even work on her, but it was still my best, and quite frankly, my last shot. "Okay, but I want ya to know, I take no pleasure in this. Shield Prison!" Just like Id done to the Soul Eater earlier, I trapped Glass into my Shield Prison, but that wasn't the end of it. "Change Shield!" The inside of my Shield Prison was transformed into a raging inferno, then it was finally time for the final step. "Finally, Iron Maiden!"

Just like before, the sky changed from red to purple, as my newest skill descended from the dark clouds, and the Shield Prison containing Glass started to float up to it. The doors of the Iron Maiden opened up wide, the Shield Prison floated inside, and I clenched my fist tightly, slamming the doors shut on it, as the Iron Maiden's eyes gave off a bright red glow.

At first, the majority of those of us that were watching all of this thought that Glass was done for, but what happened next was by far the biggest shock of the day. "Pity. Its even less potent then I imagined it would be." Glass' voice was heard from inside the Iron Maiden, and she didn't sound hurt at all. After that, cracks began appearing all over the Iron Maiden, until the whole thing was blown to pieces, revealing that Glass was completely unharmed.

Of course, I half expected this, but Roxanne suddenly found herself sinking in hopelessness. She figured that Glass would survive my new and deadly skill, but for her to emerge completely unscathed from it really made Roxanne's already pale white skin to turn even paler.

As the sky above returned to its red coloration, Glass floated back down to the ship, landing safely on its deck in the exact spot she stood in before I activated my skill. "How disappointing." Glass said with a sigh, then opened her fans, and raised one of them up high, as her entire body began to glow, and she prepared her next attack against us.

Unfortunately, I was pretty much helpless to stop it at that point. Even though it failed, using Iron Maiden a second time left me with almost no MP or SP to speak of, as my shield returned to its normal form, my armor returned to normal, and I was unable to stop myself from panting. I took another look at Glass' HP, and even I started to sink in hopelessness, seeing that it still hadn't gone down even a little. "...Is...Is that it?...Is this really where it ends for us?..." I asked myself, not wanting to give up, but I had absolutely nothing left. No power to fight back with, no tricks or ideas left up my sleeve, and no means of escape either.

All the while, Roxanne continued to watch all of this unfold before her very eyes, feeling more useless then ever. She knew that there was no way Id survive another attack from Glass, and that made her entire body begin to shake, as tears began to form in her eyes. The image of me getting killed by Glass played over and over in her mind, and she could feel her heart beating faster and faster. All of this happened in the space of five seconds, but it felt a lot longer to Roxanne. She had no idea what should could do to stop Glass and change my fate, but she just couldn't sit there and do nothing at all. So Roxanne quickly got to her feet, and ran over to me as fast as she could, calling out to me as loudly as she could as well. "LORD DAMIAN!"

Upon hearing her voice, every conscious person on the ship was very surprised by how loud and sudden it was, and the surprise only grew as Roxanne ran out in front of me and glared straight at Glass. "Roxanne?! What the hell are you doing?! Get back!" I yelled at her with fear and concern all over my face, more worried then I've ever been about anyone in my entire life at that moment.

"I'm sorry lord Damian, but I just cant do that! I've already lost too much in my life! I cant lose you too!" Roxanne yelled back at me, but kept glaring at Glass, gritting her teeth as several tears fell from her eyes. "I don't know who you are, what you are, or why you're doing this, but I wont let you kill my lord Damian! You hear me Glass?!" Roxanne's emotions grew stronger and stronger with every word, then suddenly, another miracle occurred right then and there. Out of nowhere, Roxanne's entire body began to give off a pure white light that made those of us that were watching have to cover our eyes, but to me at least, that light felt so warm and comforting.

Even Glass lost her smile, very surprised by this sudden development, and for the first time since she appeared, her tone changed into one of shock and disbelief. "What is this? It cant be!" The woman in black clearly knew something about this the rest of us didn't, but it was already too late for her to do a single thing about it.

As her body continued to glow brighter and brighter, Roxanne held her right hand out towards Glass, and all the light was quickly concentrated there. "I WONT LOSE ANYONE EVER AGAIN!" Roxanne yelled out, then fired a powerful beam of rainbow colored light from her hand, easily one of the brightest and most powerful spells that any of us had ever seen.

Roxanne's attack seemed to bring light to the entire wave of catastrophe, and when it hit Glass, it caused the fan wielding dancer to scream in pain. When the attack finally ended and the light faded away, I couldn't believe what I saw. Glass had been brought to her knees, and her HP had gone down. Not by much, but it was still incredible that Roxanne had actually been able to cause her some damage. My status screen told me that Roxanne's new spell was called Laser Ray. A light attribute spell.

Unfortunately, that spell drained the last of Roxanne's MP, as she began to slowly fall over, feeling very drained. Thankfully, I shook off my shock just in time, and caught her in my arms. "...I'm sorry lord Damian...I tried, but...I wasn't strong enough." Roxanne said to me in a tone filled with sadness and regret, as a few more tears emerged from her eyes.

I realized that Glass was still far from beaten, and that it was very likely that she still had plenty of fight left in her even after taking Roxanne's attack, but I just couldn't help smiling at my companion, as I gently wiped the tears from her eyes. "Don't be. That last attack was amazing Roxanne. You are amazing. The rest of us couldn't do a thing, but you actually hurt her."

Hearing all of this made Roxanne smile right back at me, as if the troubles all around us had just melted away. "Yeah. I guess I did. I'm not really sure where that spell came from though."

Just then, before responding to Roxanne's words, I suddenly lost my smile, seeing a timer counting down in the top right hand corner of my status screen. _"Huh? What's with the timer? That definitely wasn't there before." _The timer started at 59 seconds when it first appeared, and it continued to count down from there. Not only that, but I also noticed that the floating pirate ship had begun to descend as well.

Glass somehow noticed all of this too, slowly getting back on her feet after Roxanne's laser light show. She seemed to be struggling a bit though, almost like this was the first real damage she'd taken in years, and she definitely not used to the pain that went along with it. "The time limit. I didn't expect it to end so soon. The battle of the wave must end in our victory. There can be no other outcome." From the tone of her voice, and the words she spoke, it sounded like she herself was running out of time to fight us.

Upon hearing Glass' words, I quickly got my game face back on, figuring that this meant that me and my companions still had a chance to escape from this battle and survive. I had no idea what she meant by "our victory" since it was just her, but I didn't have time to ponder that at the moment. Instead, I whispered to Roxanne, filling her in on the situation, as well as an idea that I came up with on the fly.

Roxanne perked up immediately after listening to my explanation, then gave me a single nod, slowly getting back on her feet. "Once again, I have no idea what's going on here lord Damian, but I am not complaining. Lets do this."

I returned her nod with one of my own, then the two of us immediately headed over to the three cardinal stooges. We then knelt down beside them, and started going through their bags while they were still too weak to get up or stop us.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing Damian?! You and your slave get out of my bag!" Motoyasu glared and yelled at us, but we completely ignored him, and continued to riffle through his, Ren's, and Itsuki's belongings.

"You're seriously gonna steal from us now of all times?! You really are the lowest of the low!" Itsuki added with pretty much the same glare and tone as the spear idiot, but his complaints also fell upon deaf ears, as me and Roxanne quickly found what we were looking for.

From out of the bags of the three cardinal stooges, me and Roxanne pulled out some unopened MP and SP restoring potions. We both knew that given how much the king seems to like these three idiots, they probably had more then a few extra potions on hand, and right now, we needed them way more then they did.

"Hey guys, thanks so much for the potions. Ya really shouldn't have." I said to the three of them in a sarcastic tone, with a grin present on my face. Me and Roxanne both quickly downed the potions after that, knowing that we didn't have any time to waste arguing with Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest.

After we finished the potions, both me and Roxanne felt some of our MP and SP return to us, which was all we needed to make our escape. "Glass is after us, not you three. Be grateful that you're so weak. Later!" Roxanne added with a grin of her own, then we both made a quick turn and ran over to Plum, who was still out cold, but still had just enough MP of her own left for what I had in mind.

The second Glass regained her composure, her fans were aimed straight at me, and she prepared to fire another attack. "Rupture-Stance Rondo-"

Too bad for her, Roxanne was just a little bit quicker on the draw. "I don't think so! First Light!" Roxanne used her magic to create a literal blinding light, instantly making everyone, including Glass, cover shield their eyes from it.

While this was going on, I quickly took advantage of the opening I was given, and proceeded to cast a healing spell on Plum. "Fast Heal!"

The magic from my spell filled Plum's entire body, awakening her from her slumber instantly. Fortunately for me and Roxanne, since my Rage Shield was gone, so was Plum's rage mode. "Huh? What's going on? How long was I asleep? Is the wave over?" Plum got back on her feet, and started asking questions immediately, feeling very lost at that moment.

"No time to explain now Plum! Just transform and lets get the hell out of here!" I said to her, knowing that Roxanne's First Light spell would only buy us a few more seconds at most.

"I don't understand what's happening, but okay lord Damian! If that's what you want!" Plum quickly changed into her dragon form, and knelt down so me and Roxanne could climb onto her back, and that's exactly what the two of us did after that.

"Of all the futile, useless-" Glass began to declare in a mildly annoyed tone, but then the light from Roxanne's spell finally faded away. Glass then took one look, and saw that me and my companions were gone. Seeing this, Glass quickly turned, ran over to the port side of the ship, looked down, and tried to find us, knowing that we must've jumped ship and ran away since her time was almost up.

And she was absolutely right. Just before Roxanne's light faded away, she and I climbed onto Plum's back, then Plum jumped right off of the ship. Thankfully, between Plum's incredible physical strength, and the ship's rate of descent, Plum landed safely on her feet without any trouble. From there, Plum began to run as fast as she could along the mountain road we landed on, trying to put as much distance between us and Glass as possible, all while I kept my eye on the timer.

At first, Glass just stood there, looking down at us with a blank facial expression. Then, without a word, she jumped, moving to the bow of the ship, never once losing sight of us.

Meanwhile, down on the mountain road, Plum kept on running as fast as her legs could carry her in her current state, while I held into the reins, and Roxanne held onto my waist. Suddenly, Roxanne's fox ears twitched, a sign that her magic senses had picked up on something, as she quickly turned her gaze back towards the pirate ship. And judging from the tone of her voice, what she was sensing was anything but good. "This isn't over lord Damian! She's attacking!"

Hearing Roxanne's words, I quickly turned back towards the falling ship as well, just in time to see a barrage of light blades coming right at us. "Damn she's persistent. Air Strike Shield! Then Change Shield! Into Mirror Shield!" I made my Air Strike Shield appear in the air directly behind us, then it changed into my Mirror Shield a split second later. Glass' blades of light struck my shield, and were immediately reflected right back at Glass herself. "Almost forgot I had that one." I remarked about my Mirror Shield, as its been a while since I've used it for anything.

Back on the ship, Glass watched calmly as each and every one of her attacks was reflected right back at her. This made her stop firing at us, then, using her fans, and another of her elegant dances, she managed to knock away every single redirected shot that came her way, sending them all flying right into the mountains that surrounded the still descending ship. Once that was done, she looked down at us again and narrowed her eyes, still able to see the three of us even with the ever growing distance between her and us. "So it seems that you do still have a few tricks up your sleeve. I shall leave this time, but heed my words demon lord. You wont survive our next encounter unless you grow stronger." Glass said to me in a knowing tone, even though she knew that I couldn't actually hear her.

And so, with the timer about to hit zero, Glass turned away from me and my companions, then jumped up into the sky, speaking a few more words to me as she did. "Remember that we will be the ones to emerge triumphant from the waves." I still couldn't hear her, but from the tone of her voice and the words she spoke, it sounded almost like Glass could see into the future. After that, Glass' entire body began to glow again, that glow then transformed into an almost star shaped light that lit up almost the entire dark sky, and when it faded away, Glass was gone.

A literal second later, the timer finally hit zero, and when it did, the sky returned to normal and the wave came to an end, just like that. "Is the wave over now?" Plum repeated one of her earlier questions, coming to a stop, as all three of us looked up into the sky.

Before either me or Roxanne could answer her, we all heard the sound of a crash not far from where we were. So we all turned our heads, and saw that the sound we heard was the pirate ship hitting the ground, landing on the side of the mountain that Plum stood on.

As we all stared at the fallen ship, the three of us were overloading with questions. What just happened? Who is Glass? What is she? Where did she come from? How was she so strong? Why was she after me? Why didn't she continue to pursue us? Would we ever see her again? And if so, where? And when?

All of those questions and more ran through our minds, and in the end, we decided to head back to the village that this wave started us out in to make sure that our allies were okay, and to find the dead body of the first Soul Eater along the way. Partly to pick up any and all drops the boss monster might have before the three cardinal stooges can pick themselves up off the deck of the ship, and so I can feed a piece of the boss monster's flesh to my shield.

Since we had the time, me and Roxanne told Plum everything that happened after she passed out. Naturally, she was amazed by Roxanne's new Laser Ray spell, though none of us were sure how she pulled it off. I also informed my girls of the timer I saw on my status screen, how it counted down to the end of the wave, and that Glass knew about that countdown somehow. This raised even more questions for us, but one thing was crystal clear to all of us. We had to get stronger. A lot stronger.

X

Upon returning to the village, me, Roxanne, and Plum were all pleased to see that there were no serious casualties, not that me and Roxanne cared about the lives of the human villagers of course. The five vampire cultists we'd teamed up with were all still alive and well, and there was still a good amount of potions left in the stockpile we left them to use while we were off fighting the boss monster. With that, me, Roxanne, and Plum all drank as many potions as we had to in order to restore our HP, MP, and all of our other stats back to full. Once we did, we all left much better, but we all agreed that some actual rest wouldn't hurt.

Although, before that, we all gave the villagers a hand in cleaning up after the wave. I made and handed out medicine to anyone who needed it, Roxanne cooked and served meals to everyone, and Plum lent a claw with the heavy lifting.

Despite the rather unsatisfactory outcome, the three of us had done fairly well for ourselves during this wave. My level had risen to 44, Roxanne was now level 46, and Plum had grown to level 45. Slaying the boss monster, two mini boss monsters, and four hours worth of enemy monsters really paid off.

Naturally, I fed my shield pieces from almost every monster that was present during this wave, save for the kraken, Skull Captain, and figurehead. This gave me several new shields and boosts to my stats, the most noteworthy of which was the shield I got from the Soul Eater. The Soul Eater Shield. This shield gave me the Soul Resistance, Mind Attack Resistance, SP Up, and SP Recovery bonuses. It also gave me some awesome new skills. Such as Soul Devour, Drain Effect, Intangibility, and Undead Control.

All of this was great, and I was already looking forward to trying it all out, but I knew that me and my companions would need a lot more power, skills, and training before the next wave of catastrophe. But before any of that, all of us hadn't forgotten that we had an even more important mission to attend to now that this wave had come and gone. To save Sasha, then get the hell out of Melromarc.

So, after about an hour of cleaning up the village, the three of us began to pack up our carriage. Our vampire allies were more then willing to help us out with that, and once we were finally done, they all bowed to us once more. "It has been a true honor to fight alongside you and your companions lord Damian, but I'm afraid we must take our leave now. I'm sure the head of our movement has more for us to do." The leader of the five vampires said to me, as I noticed his and his fellow vampire's status bars vanish from my status screen.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned to face them upon hearing those words from the group's head vampire. "No worries. The three of us can handle things from here. Still, we really appreciate all your help. So thanks, and be sure to pass that along to this leader of yours too. Whoever she is, I look forward to meeting her one day." I said to the five vampires in a more friendly tone then when I spoke to humans, as I once again found myself wondering just who the leader of this cult actually is, and when she'll finally reveal herself to me.

After I finished speaking, all five vampire cultists raised their heads, and the leader of their group gave me a response. "She will be most grateful and happy to hear all of that lord Damian. We wish you all the best of luck in all of your future endeavors as well."

"When will we get to see you again?" Plum asked the cloaked cultists, sounding a little sad to see them leave so soon after the wave's conclusion.

"Fear not lady Plum. Demon lord Damian's desires are our desires. We live only to serve our lord. As such, we will return whenever he has need of us. We are Crimson Wrath, and we stand with our demon lord against all those foolish enough to oppose him. Until that day arrives, we will do our part to help and support you all how ever we can. Farewell." The head of the five vampires answered Plum's question, then, in the blink of an eye, he and his four fellow vampires all used their spatial magic to vanish, leaving us. At least for now.

"Crimson Wrath, huh? So that's what they're calling themselves. Still, what did their team leader mean when he said that they'd return when we had need of them? Same for that stuff about doing their part of support us how ever they could?" Roxanne questioned, starting to put her trust in these hooded vampires, but was still left with quite a few questions about them, their cult, and their motives.

It was the same for me and Plum, but before we had time to ponder any of this further, our train of thought was derailed by the approach of a team of castle knights. "Pardon us sir shield hero." One of the knights addressed me, as he and his fellow knights came to a stop about three yards away from me and my girls.

The second we turned to them, both me and Roxanne started glaring at them, clearly not happy to see them even one bit. "What do you sorry excuses for knights want?" I made absolutely no attempt to hide my disdain, questioning the knights in an annoyed tone of voice.

Naturally, the whole team of knights shot me some glares after that, but then one of them stepped forward and relayed the message that they were sent to deliver to me. "You are to report to the royal castle at once."

This caught me and my companions completely by surprise. If Id been summoned to the castle, then that could mean only one thing. The king wanted to see me. Upon realizing that, I began to look even more annoyed straight away, letting out a sigh of frustration.

Roxanne was in much the same state that I was, letting out a sigh of her own at around the exact same time as I did. At the same time, Plum, being the cool headed member of the team, quickly turned towards me, and asked the question that both she and Roxanne were thinking at that moment. "What do you wanna do lord Damian?"

I listened to Plum's question, and began to mull it over. Like always, I had absolutely no desire to even see the king's stupid face, and that what ever he wanted from me couldn't be anything good. However, at the same time, I knew that me, Roxanne, and Plum would have to return to Melromarc one last time before getting back on the road anyway. For one thing, we all needed some rest after the battles we've just endured. And for another thing, I knew from studying our map that saving Sasha and then heading for Siltvelt would be a very long trip, and that we were almost completely out of food and supplies after said battles, so we'd also need to head back to Melromarc to restock our carriage before hitting the road.

With all of that in mind, I let out one more sigh, then finally answered Plum's question. "Get ready to leave girls. We're headin back to Melromarc. Ill explain on the way."

Roxanne wasn't any happier about this then I was, and Plum could sense the annoyance and frustration coming from both of us, but they both trusted my judgement. So, after hearing my words, they both gave me a nod of confirmation. Me and Roxanne hooked up Plum to our carriage, the two of us climbed on board, I grabbed the reins, then off we went, bound for the capital city of Melromarc for the last time.

X

The ride back to Melromarc didn't eat up too much time, and along the way, I explained to my companions everything that we had to do before leaving to go save Sasha, then heading to Siltvelt after that. Roxanne and Plum both understood perfectly, as we planned to head to Erhard's shop after our meeting with the king, since we knew that he could get us everything that we needed by himself. Fortunately, we'd collected plenty of money and items from the monsters we killed during the wave, so we had more then enough cash to afford everything we needed for our long voyage to a new kingdom.

Upon arriving back in Melromarc, we hid our carriage like we always did when visiting the capital city, then the three of us disembarked and headed for the castle, eager to get this over with. However, when we passed through the shopping district, Roxanne stopped us, suddenly looking and sound rather nervous about something. "Uhhh...Lord Damian, if its alright, do you think you could handle this meeting with the king on your own? Me and Plum have an important errand to run."

Me and Plum both turned to the albino kitsune, and Plum tilted her head in confusion right away. "We do?"

Roxanne's face was starting to turn red, but she still managed to keep her cool as she answered Plum's question. "Yes Plum, we do. I don't blame you for not remembering. We have been through a lot since the last time we've talked about this."

Plum was still confused at first, but upon sensing the emotions coming from Roxanne, she finally understood what Roxanne was getting at. "Oh! That's right! Now I remember!" My scaly companion turned towards me after that, and smiled. "Roxanne's right lord Damian. We're really sorry, but do you think you can handle the king on your own this time please?"

All of this made me raise an eyebrow at my companions, as I had no idea what they were talking about, or what they planned on doing without me. "If this is because the king called for me specifically, you girls have absolutely nothing to worry about. You're my precious companions, and anything the king has to say to me, he can say to you too."

"We know lord Damian, and we both really appreciate that, but that's not what this is about. Its just that..." Roxanne started to explain to me, but her face grew even more red, as she struggled to get her words out for a moment, and started to nervously twiddle her thumbs by that point. "...Its just that this might be our last time here, so while we have the chance, me and Plum would like to...see to a rather private matter."

As I listened to Roxanne, I placed a hand under my chin, wondering what exactly it was that she was talking about. Neither she nor Plum had lived in the city of Melromarc for very long, and if they didn't want me around for it, then I knew that there was only a handful of things that it could be. A few of those ideas crossed my mind, then one of them made my face turn a little red for a moment, but I quickly shook it off, clearing my throat and regaining my composure. "I see. Well, if what ever this is means so much to both of you, then okay. Go ahead. I can handle the king on my own. Oh, and here. Ya might need this." I reached into my bag, pulled out a smaller bag containing two hundred silver coins, and handed it to Roxanne, figuring that would be more then enough for what ever it was they had planned, if their plans even required money at all.

Roxanne accepted the money from me, then smiled at me, starting to calm down a little. "Thank you lord Damian. I promise we wont be long, we'll be fine on our own, and we'll meet you out in front of the castle when we're done. C'mon Plum. Lets go."

Plum smiled and nodded at Roxanne, then waved to me. "Thanks lord Damian. I'm right behind you Roxanne. Lead the way." She and Roxanne left me after that, heading deeper into Melromarc's shopping district.

I watched them until they were out of sight, still a bit confused by all of that, but a few thoughts in particular continued to reappear in my mind when I thought about it. But just like before, I shook my head, and turned back to the castle, refocusing myself on the task at hand. _"Focus Damian. Roxanne and Plum will be fine on their own, and you can worry about their plans later." _I thought to myself, then continued to make my way to the castle, displaying absolutely no fear or concern as I got closer and closer to it.

Just like how my companions trusted me, I trusted them as well. I knew that what ever they had planned wasn't anything bad, and that they'd be fine on their own for a while, in spite of how corrupt this city and its people were.

Likewise, Roxanne and Plum knew that Id be okay on my own for a while too. True, I hadn't even met either of them the last time I went to the castle on my own, but I was a lot stronger this time around, so my companions knew that if the king tried anything, Id be able to fight my way out with ease. And if it came right down to it, the two of them would charge into the castle if I didn't meet them at the meeting point we agreed upon before sunset.

X

As soon as I arrived at the castle, I was greeted by several knights, who escorted me to the throne room. Upon arriving at the throne room, I found the king sitting on his throne like usual, and to my eternal gratitude, his bitchy, red haired daughter wasn't with him for once.

After some rather tense and unpleasant greetings, the king had one of his servants bring out a crystal ball. Seconds later, the crystal ball played back several events from the most recent wave, almost like a video recording. To my surprise and confusion, the crystal ball only seemed to show events pertaining to me. Primarily my defeat of the Soul Eater through the use of my newly acquired Iron Maiden skill.

I had no idea that crystal balls could record and playback videos like that, but the fact this this particular crystal ball only showed footage of me made me raise my guard WAY up. The rather large number of guards in the room wasn't helping either, but I kept my eyes narrowed on the king for now, wondering what he had in mind for me this time.

When the video in the crystal ball finally came to an end, the king finally cleared his throat and spoke up, but he did so in a slightly reluctant tone. "As you've just seen, I saw what happened through the crystal ball. As much as I hate to admit it, you did well to quell the wave shield hero."

I flinched and took a step back the second I heard those words from the king's mouth, then I quickly took a moment to process everything I just heard him say. I was expecting some kind of insult or false accusation, but nothing even close to what I ended up getting from him. _"Oh my Lucifer! Did he just give me a complement?! Who the hell is this guy and what has he done with the king?!" _I thought to myself, then quickly calmed down, getting my guard back up, and narrowing my eyes at the king once more.

_"Okay, lets take stock. This asshole has done nothing but try to make my life a living hell since I arrived in this world, and his precious three cardinal stooges aren't here. He only called for me, and now he's clearly trying to butter me up. If I'm right, then this can only mean one of two things. Either this old piece of shit has finally gone senile in his old age, or he wants something from me." _I continued to keep my thoughts to myself for the time being, as I waited for the king to make his intentions known.

"Now then, I have a question for you shield hero. How did you obtain such incredible strength?" The king asked me in a rather demanding tone, continuing to lean back in his throne as he spoke.

Upon hearing his question, I had my answer, and wasn't surprised by it one bit. _"Yup. There it is. He wants something from me." _I thoughts to myself yet again, keeping quiet for now, as I waited to hear what else the king had to say, since I knew there was likely more.

"You possess powers unbecoming of the shield hero. It is your duty to reveal the secret behind it. Now lets have it, and don't you even think about lying to me." The king added in yet another forceful tone, beginning to glare at me a little bit too.

It was finally time for me to speak up, but if King Douchebag thought I would give out that information to someone like him willingly, he had way more then just one thing coming. So, before responding, I grinned and let out a small chuckle.

My laughter made the king narrow his eyes at me yet again, clearly not at all amused by this. "Is something about this funny to you?"

"Actually yeah. A few things. First of all, you say that its "unbecoming" of me to have this level of power, but guess what asshole? I'm the one who unlocked this power! Not you! Not your precious three cardinal stooges! And not anyone else either! And speaking of the three cardinal stooges, is that why you wanna know how I got this power? So you can pass the information along to them? Those three morons cant even be trusted with the power they already have, and you wanna give em more?!" I yelled at the king, shooting him a glare of my own, as I thought back to the incidents involving the plant monsters, the dragon zombie, and the famine stricken town.

The second I stopped speaking, the king glared right back at me, raising his own voice as he answered me. "How dare you speak ill of the three cardinal heroes! Each of them is more of a hero then you could ever hope to be, you insolent cur!"

Hearing this, I laughed again, this time much louder. "HA! If that's true, then how come I'm the one who gained this great new power and slayed this wave's boss monster?! If you saw me kill that thing, then you also saw those three idiots wasting time and making even bigger fools of themselves then they already were!" I yelled back at him once again, but I wasn't done yet, and quickly switched gears. "Now let me ask you something "your majesty". Why the hell should I tell you anything? All you've ever done since I got here is try to make my life a living hell, and now you're basically asking me for help? Either you've got balls of steel, or you're the biggest dumbass I've ever had the misfortune to know."

As expected, my words made all eyes in the room start glaring at me, but none more so then the king himself, as his composure went right out the window by that point. "YOU BRUTISH WHELP! Do you think you can talk to me like that and get away with it! I am the king of Melromarc! You will show me due respect, and tell me how you obtained that power right this second!"

"OR WHAT?! You're nothing compared to the Soul Eater! If I wanted to, I could kill everyone in this room easily, but you and I both know that you cant kill, or even imprison me! Not as long as I have this shield! Honestly, the only reason you and the three cardinal idiots are still breathing is because of your daughter Melty! She seems like a nice girl, in spite of her upbringing." I quickly retorted, but calmed down a little near the end of my retort. I didn't realize it right away, but I actually said something nice about a human. Not only that, but thinking about that same human calmed me down a little bit too.

As soon as Melty's name came out of my mouth, the king's rage practically exploded, as he yelled even louder at me. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER YOU DEMONIC RAPIST! Melty is a good girl! An angel sent from heaven! You don't even deserve to breath the same air as her!"

"Well then, by your logic, neither do you!" The king had crossed a lot of lines with me, so at that moment, I was reminded of an old saying. What goes around, comes around. "Tell me "your highness", do the words Siltvelt, hakuko, and little sister mean anything to you?"

In an instant, the king's glare of pure rage transformed into a facial expression of shock and disbelief. He knew exactly what I was talking about, but he had no idea how I knew about it.

Seeing his reaction, I got my grin back, deciding to give him a taste of his own medicine and toy with him, since this would probably be the last time Id see him for a while. "Yeah, that's right. I know. You've got quite the backstory, don't ya? You claimed to love your little sister, but then she brought home a demi-human boyfriend. A hakuko, if I'm not mistaken. A good older brother would've been happy for his younger sister, but what did you do? You tried to have your sister's lover killed behind her back, but he survived, she found out, then they ran away together to Siltvelt, because they knew that you'd never accept what they had."

The king's shock continued to grow, as all the memories of that chapter of his life flooded his mind while I spoke. At the same time, all the knights in the room started exchanging glances, with mixtures of surprise and confusion all over their faces. All of them remembered that the king did have a sister, but not a single one of them knew all the details about what happened to her. Until now that is.

Taking full advantage of the king's stunned silence, I continued to speak, not finished with the story just yet. "After your sister left you and this filthy mess you call a kingdom, it ate away at you more and more each day until you just couldn't handle it anymore, but instead of paying your sister a visit and apologizing to her and her husband, you overreacted and declared war on the entire kingdom of Siltvelt. During the war, you somehow managed to kill the leader of the hakuko race, through the use of dirty, underhanded tricks I'm sure. A lot of innocent demi-humans lost their lives during that war, but not just demi-humans. Your own sister lost her life in the war you started because you're a bad brother!"

Silence fell over the entire castle after that, but that silence came to an end when the king's flashbacks finally came to an end about three minutes after Id finished speaking. And boy, if he wasn't mad before, he was definitely mad now. "Rgh!...YOU'RE JUST A CRIMINAL! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW?!" The sound of the king's loud, enraged voice was more then enough to make nearly every knight in the room flinch, as they all came back to reality as well.

"More then you! That's for damn sure! I know that you're just a bitter old man who blames everyone but himself for all of his own problems! I also know what its like to have younger siblings that you care for, only to lose them because of your own mistakes!" I yelled at him once again, then took a deep breath, calming back down once more, and thinking back to my three younger siblings back on Earth. "Look, as much as it makes me wanna vomit just admitting this, you and I are more alike then you think."

"That's a lie! You and I are nothing alike!" The king continued to glare and yell at me, completely denying my words straight away.

"Hey, I don't like it anymore then you do, but its the truth! Back in the world I was summoned from, I had three younger siblings, and all of us were the best of friends for a long time. We did everything together, and we were always there for each other when we needed it, but then my best friend died, I fell into depression, and shut myself off from the world. I was so wrapped up in myself back then that I didn't see that my siblings were still there for me. I took them for granted, I was selfish, and I ended up ruining our friendship." I know that my words probably wouldn't get through to the king at all, but since I was being honest, I wasn't really saying all that stuff to him. I was saying it to myself, with my fists clenched tightly, and my head filled with memories of the good times with my three younger siblings back home. Alex, Julie, and Andrew.

I stayed strong though, and spoke with conviction, looking right up at the king with eyes that matched that conviction perfectly. "Honestly, I should thank you "your majesty". If I hadn't met you, I might never have realized all of this. In fact, I might've ended up exactly like you one day, and that thought truly disgusts me. Sadly, it looks like neither of us will ever get the chance to make things right with our siblings. Yours is gone, and mine are in a whole other world, but Ill tell ya one thing. I have absolutely no intention of ever leaving this world, but if I ever get the chance to see them again, Id run right up to them, hug them, tell them that I was sorry for everything, and hope that they'd be able to find it in their hearts to give me just one more chance."

The king listened to my every word, and after a quick whisper from the man who held the crystal ball, he just barely managed to compose himself once more, and refocus himself on the matter he originally called me to his castle for. "Enough of your stalling shield hero! Ill tell you one more time! I demand to know how you obtained the power you used to defeat the strongest monster of the most recent wave!"

As expected, my words didn't get through to him in the slightest. Thankfully, that wasn't my intention, and I still wasn't done toying with his royal highness just yet. "You really wanna know that badly? Fine then. Ill tell ya, but first..." Grinning at him once more, I pointed down at my boots, as my tone changed into a more devilish one. "...get up off your throne, kneel before me, lick the dirt off my boots until they shine, and beg for forgiveness. Not just my forgiveness though. You'll also beg for Roxanne's forgiveness, Plum's forgiveness, Sasha's forgiveness, and the forgiveness of everyone else you've ever hurt or wronged in your entire miserable life."

The king's reaction to my words didn't surprise me one bit, as his rage instantly flared back up in seconds. "GUARDS! SURROUND THE SHIELD HERO AT ONCE!" At his command, nearly every knight in the room pulled out their swords and surrounded me, all of them glaring at me once again.

However, none of this intimidated me even a little. In fact, it made me chuckle yet again, as I kept my grin. "Wow. You really are just a stupid and senile old man. You cant kill me as long as I've got this shield and am therefore one of the four cardinal heroes of this world, not that you could anyway. Even if you all came at me at once, it wouldn't make a difference. You'd all die. And since it seems you've refused my offer, I guess that means we have nothing more to talk about. So I'm outta here. Unlike you, I've got better things to do with my time then this." After that, I turned right around, and began to leave, as the knights that were in my way quickly stepped aside, their facial expressions transforming into more wary ones.

"I am the king of Melromarc! You cant just walk away from me! I forbid you to disrespect me like this shield hero!" The king yelled at me once again, but then gasped in shock, as I completely ignored him and kept walking towards the exit. However, he started grinning at me after that, as a new thought came to him at that moment. "Stop right there, or those slaves of yours will be the ones to pay for your crimes!"

The second I heard those words, I stopped dead in my tracks, and it was officially my turn to explode with rage. Without a word, and in the space of three seconds, I equipped my Frozen Pride Shield, turned back towards the king, and shot a single icicle right at him. The icicle just barely missed his head, hitting his throne instead, but still left a single, visible cut on his left cheek.

As soon as everyone realized what happened, it was loud gasps all around, but none were more shocked then the king himself. Not only that, but he suddenly found himself sweating and trembling with fear, falling completely silent, and slightly wincing in pain from the small wound I gave him.

Everyone in the room flinches yet again as soon as they saw my face. The glare and tone that I was currently giving the king could only be described in one word. "DEATH!" "I don't give a damn what you say or do to me, but if you even think about laying even a single finger on Roxanne or Plum, or sending someone else after them, then mark my words. Ill show you, your family, and this entire godforsaken kingdom what true hell is like. There wont be any place you can run or hide from me. Ill find you, and introduce you to forms of pain and torture that you cant even imagine. You might be king, but I'm the one in control here. I suggest you remember all of this the next time you even think about taking anything from me."

All of this made the king glare at me again, but this time, he was unable to stop himself from sweating and trembling with fear. And after a full minute of silence, he was only able to muster up two final words in a loud but shaky tone of voice. "Accursed shield!"

His words didn't even faze me, as I just continued to glare at him, returning my shield to its normal form. After another thirty seconds had passed, I literally spat at him, then turned to leave once more, slamming the doors to the throne room behind me once I was out of there.

X

After leaving the throne room, I headed back down the stairs leading to the closest exit of the castle. Just not being around the king anymore helped to improve my mood a lot, as I soon reached the bottom of the stairs, letting out a single deep breath during my descent. _"Karma will catch up with him one day. It always does. And when that day comes, I hope I'm there to see it." _I thought to myself, continuing to make my way to the exit.

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I passed a woman wearing a dress, and she turned to speak to me just after we passed. "You did well this time Shield Hero, I dare say."

The sound of her voice snapped me out of my thoughts, as I came to a stop, turned to face her, and raised an eyebrow at her. _"Now whose this? Is she tryin to start somethin with me too?"_

"Your efforts have become, shall we say, somewhat impossible for anyone to ignore any longer. Including certain powers who, to put it mildly, aren't taking too kindly to your interference sir hero." The woman continued to speak to me, a little long winded too, but then she held up a necklace for me to see. The necklace had a rather odd looking pendant hanging from it, which also looked kind of familiar to me for some reason. "Virtuous on the surface, conniving and conspiring behind the scenes. You should exercise the utmost caution going forward, I dare say. Understood?"

At first, the way she talked really confused me, as I wondered if that was really how she talked, or if she was speaking in code or something. Then I took a good look at the necklace she showed me, and narrowed my eyes at it, slowly realizing that she was trying to warn me about something. But before I could even begin to question her about what ever it was, she had already turned away from me and started up the stairs.

_"I always exercise caution in this kingdom, especially since there always seems to be someone after me. Still, this seems bigger then some bitter old king and his evil bitchy daughter. Those two are evil, sure, but they're also halfwits. Somethin else is goin on around here. Looks like me and my girls picked a good time to skip town. Speaking of Roxanne and Plum, they're probably waiting for me." _I thought to myself once more, then turned back to the exit, keeping my guard up as I headed for the meeting point that me and my companions agreed upon.

True to form, Roxanne and Plum were standing just outside the castle gates waiting for me, having finished the errand they had to run. I was glad that they found what ever it was they were looking for, but when I asked them what it was, all they told me was that it was something important that they would need later. This left me even more curious then I was before, but I trusted the judgement of my companions. If they said it was important, then I believed them.

We had other matters to see to at that moment anyway, and we all agreed, the sooner the better. So we began to make our way to Erhard's shop after that, being that he could get us everything that we needed for our long journey to Siltvelt by himself. Along the way, I told Roxanne and Plum in great detail what happened during my meeting with the king. Needless to say, Roxanne wasn't at all pleased with the way the king talked to me, but she did find my egging him on to be amusing. Likewise, Plum was very worried about me too, and was glad that I walked back out of the castle without any trouble.

However, the part about the woman with the pendant confused them too. I went on to tell them that there might be a bigger threat then just the king and Malty in Melromarc, which did well to make them raise their guards as well. None of us had any idea who or what this bigger threat could be, but we all agreed once more that leaving Melromarc is a very good idea, after rescuing Sasha of course. There was no way we were gonna leave Roxanne's childhood friend behind, especially after finding out about something like this.

X

As soon as we arrived at Erhard's shop, the three of us were once again pleased to see that we'd arrived at a time when we were his only customers. And as soon as said shop owner saw us, he gave us a friendly smile, standing behind his counter like usual. "Well now, I didn't think Id see you all again so soon. Glad to see you're not dead."

"We wont let ourselves be killed. Not before the king at least. That's for damn sure. The wave and its monsters gave us a hard time, but we pulled through. Just like always." I responded to him, as me and my companions approached the counter.

Erhard got a few laughs out of my words, even though he knew I wasn't joking. "Regardless of your attitude towards the king, you know you can always do your shopping here. So what are you in the market for this time?"

"First of all, sorry, but this might be our last time here. Not just in your shop, but in this whole kingdom. The three of us talked it over, and we're leaving for Siltvelt as soon as we can. We just cant stay in this kingdom anymore." I answered him, thinking about all the reasons why me and my companions planned to leave this kingdom, and looking mildly disgusted as a result.

Hearing my response, Erhard lost his smile, and let out a sigh. "I always figured you'd decide to leave for either Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden someday. I cant really blame you for not wanting to stick around here, especially with how the king and almost everyone else treats you. But why Siltvelt? They can get pretty extreme about demi-human supremacy over there, even if you are the shield hero."

"Like I always say, I'm a demon lord before anything else. And yeah, we know that Shieldfreeden is a kingdom of demi-humans that's more easy going and accepting towards other forms of life, but we have our reasons for choosing Siltvelt. We'll take our chances. Besides, there's no way Siltvelt could be anywhere near as bad as this place." I said to the shop owner in a very blunt tone, incredibly sick of Melromarc, its leaders, and pretty much everything else.

Erhard got his smile back after that, once again amused by how blunt I was. "I see. So let me guess. You need enough food, potions, medical supplies, and other essentials for the long trip to Siltvelt. Is that right?"

I gave the shop owner a nod, then gestured to my bag, which contained all of our money. "You got it. We got plenty of cash and rare items from the wave's monsters, so we'll pay what ever it'll cost for you to get us everything we'll need for the trip."

"I know you're good for it. Normally it takes about three weeks to reach Siltvelt from here by carriage, but I'm pretty sure a dragon like yours will get you there in less time." Erhard informed us, turning his gaze over to Plum as he spoke.

His words made Plum smile right away, as she responded in a grateful tone. "Awww thanks. I'm not exactly sure how fast I can get the three of us to Siltvelt, but Ill definitely give it my all for my lord Damian and Roxanne."

Me and Roxanne both smiled at Plum after hearing that, already knowing that she always does her very best for us, and we both loved her for it. Just then, Roxanne remembered something else, and turned right back to Erhard with a request. "Oh, by the way, in addition to the supplies, do you think you could also make a pair of gauntlets for us? They're for a friend that we plan on meeting up with along the way. We haven't seen each other in a while, but she's always preferred fighting with her fists, and I'm sure that's still true. Id also like it if you could make them out of magic steel too, just like my sword."

Of course both me and Plum knew that Roxanne wanted these gauntlets as a present for Sasha, wanting to make sure that Sasha had a weapon of her own when we finally reached her. Roxanne's planning ahead made both me and Plum smile at her now, as we were once again reminded that our dear kitsune really loves and cares for her sister-at-arms.

Erhard didn't know Sasha at all, but that didn't stop him from smiling at Roxanne as he answered her. "Of course. Consider it done. I can have the gauntlets and all the supplies you'll need ready by noon tomorrow at the very latest. Also, since this might be the last time Ill see you all for a while, I want you to know that Ill be rooting for you no matter where you go. Despite what the majority of people in this city say about you, you three are still my favorite team of adventurers."

With a nod from Plum, me and Roxanne confirmed that his words and feelings were genuine, so I responded to him in a kinder and more friendly tone. "Thanks. I guess you're alright for a human. We'll be back tomorrow for everything, and we'll pay ya then if that's alright."

Erhard was a bit surprised by this at first, having never heard me say something that nice to him before, and it made him smile at me once again. "Sure thing. Ill see you then." He waved us off, as the three of us turned and exited his shop, planning to return tomorrow around noon.

With that taken care of, the only things left for us to do were choose an inn, have some dinner, get ourselves cleaned up, and get plenty of rest for the start of our longest voyage to date. After staying in Melromarc as long as we had, we knew which inn was the best of the bad situation that was this city, so that was the one we chose to stay at for what would hopefully be our final night in said city.

X

Upon arriving at our inn of choice, I immediately paid for everything we would need during our stay. One room with three beds, plenty of food for the three of us for dinner, and three washtubs with washcloths, warm water, and soap for us to clean ourselves with after dinner.

Unlike the king and his bitch of a daughter, the keeper of this particular inn had learned not to cross me or my companions. As such, he treated us with respect, and did everything he could to make sure that our visit to his inn was pleasant. Of course, all three of us knew that his kindness was only a result of fear and intimidation, but we didn't care.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum found ourselves a table after that, sat down at it, and started eating as soon as the inn keeper's staff brought us our food. As we ate, the three of us all kept our wits about us, keeping in mind that there was still an unknown enemy of ours somewhere in the capital city. Thankfully, neither Roxanne nor Plum sensed anything out of the ordinary nearby, so we figured that we were probably okay for the time being.

Once we finished eating, the three of us headed up to our room, where all of our bathing supplies were already waiting for us outside the door to said room. I unlocked the door to our room, then we all grabbed our own set of supplies, walked inside our room, and got started after I closed and locked the door behind us.

By this time, the sky had gone dark outside, signaling that night had fallen over the kingdom of Melromarc. Fortunately, our room had several lit candles set up inside, which gave us all the light we needed.

With that, I put down my bag next to my bed, Roxanne placed her sword beside her bed, and Plum placed her Dragon Nails by her bed as well. After that, we all began to undress, removing every last piece of our clothing. This was done with a small amount of blushing from me and Roxanne, but ever since our visit to the hot spring village, we'd grown a lot more comfortable bathing with each other. In fact, ever since that day, the three of us had started bathing together almost all the time, so it wasn't nearly as embarrassing for us as it was back in the hot spring village.

Of course, Plum was never embarrassed about any of this to begin with. Another of her traits that me and Roxanne often envied. Additionally, there was always one item that I could never remove from my body. My shield, but Id gotten pretty used to it by this time, so just like bathing together, it wasn't really a big deal anymore.

We all decided to start with our clothes and armor, using the warm water and soap we were given to wash them first. Once that was done, Roxanne used her fire magic to quickly, but carefully dry everything, making sure not to burn any of our belongings.

Naturally, all three of us started cleaning ourselves after that, washing all the sweat, dirt, and blood off of ourselves that we accumulated during the wave. Most of the blood on us came from the monsters we killed during battle, which was both good and kind of gross at the same time.

The three of us had also taken to washing each other's backs as well. Partly because it was easier then doing it ourselves, and partly because it was quite enjoyable for us all. First, I washed Roxanne and Plum's backs for them myself, one at a time of course. Then the two of them washed mine at the same time, which was a little embarrassing for me at first, but it was also a dream come true to have two beautiful inhuman girls washing my back for me. Plus, it felt really nice, so they got absolutely no complaints from me, and neither of them ever complained about my treatment either.

As soon as it was time for my turn, I sat still while Roxanne and Plum went to work, each scrubbing their own side of my back with a wet and sudsy washcloth. About halfway through this process, Plum gave Roxanne a nudge, and Roxanne knew what that meant. The kitsune took a single deep breath, gathered her courage, then spoke up, all while continuing to scrub my back for me. "Hey lord Damian, if you don't mind my asking, while we were in battle against the Soul Eater or Glass today, did you ever think that we might not make it?"

Roxanne's question surprised me, but I stayed still, turning my head enough to glance at her and Plum. "That came out of nowhere. Why do you ask Roxanne?"

Before answering me, Roxanne looked down a little, thinking back to the battles against the Soul Eater and Glass. "Honestly, there were at least one or two times I thought we might not make it out of those battles alive. Please don't go thinking that I've ever felt this way before, because I haven't, but this time was different. Our foes were a lot stronger, and Glass even said that she was after your life for what ever reason lord Damian."

As I listened to Roxanne's answer, I found myself thinking back to those battles too, then I let out a single sigh before responding. "I see. Since we're being honest, Id be lying if I said that thought didn't cross my mind at least once today. Today was the first time Id ever felt that way since we first met too Roxanne, so I don't blame you for feeling that way yourself. I know Glass said that she was only after me, but even after I died, I doubt either of you would've given up the fight. If I died back there, Glass would've just walked away and left you two alone, but you two would continue the fight anyway, wouldn't you?"

"Are you kidding lord Damian? Of course we would. I know that I'm the youngest member of our party, and I haven't been alive nearly as long as either of you have, but that's exactly why life without either of you isn't worth living. If I were to lose either one of you, I'm not sure what Id do. If that Glass lady had killed you lord Damian, Id keep fighting her to my last breath, even if I knew I had absolutely no chance of winning. Id rather die in battle then go on living a life without you in it lord Damian. That's how I feel at least." Plum chimed in, expressing her own true feelings on the matter.

Though Plum's words were a bit morbid, Roxanne nodded in full agreement with them. "Plum is absolutely right lord Damian. I've already lost way too much in my life. I don't think I could handle losing any more, especially the demon lord that I love so much."

I was extremely touched by the words and feelings of my dear companions, which caused me to smile as I responded to them. "And I love you Roxanne. You too Plum. So much. That's why I'm not goin anywhere. None of us are. I admit, today was a close call, but we all made it our alive, despite the odds against us. And since we're all still alive and well, we'll work hard, get a lot stronger then we are now, then we'll be ready for Glass the next time we see her, and anyone else who dares to come after us too. We'll keep getting stronger until no one can stand against us, then we'll all live peaceful and happy lives in this world together. I know we will girls. Anyway, why are you two bringing all of this up now?"

Once again, Plum nudged Roxanne, and a small blush appeared on Roxanne's face as she answered me. "Well...me and Plum have been talking, and thinking about this a lot lately, so at the risk of sounding morbid, we both agreed that if the day should come when we all lose our lives in battle, we'd like to make sure that we don't have any regrets. Lord Damian...we want you to make love with us tonight."

Upon hearing this from Roxanne, I fell into a stunned silence, thinking that I was dreaming for a moment. However, after a quick pinch to one of my hands, I was overjoyed to realize that this was definitely real. I felt nearly all the blood in my body rush to a particular part of it, but that quickly came to a stop when another thought crossed my mind. "Not that I'm not thrilled by your offer girls, but uhhh...have either of you thought about protection? We're gonna be fighting against a lot of strong and dangerous opponents in the near future I'm sure, so I don't think now is the best time to be bringing any infants into the mix."

My words made Roxanne blush a little more, but Plum was her usual calm self, smiling as she offered me a response. "Don't get the wrong idea lord Damian. We'd love to bare your children someday, but we both agree that right now we need to focus on getting stronger and fighting against the waves. That's why we planned ahead. Remember that errand we ran while you were at the castle earlier today? It was to buy a special kind of medicine that can prevent females like us from getting pregnant or laying eggs. So there's nothing to worry about."

This information surprised me yet again, but if I was being honest, that thought had crossed my mind at least once when Roxanne and Plum first told me that they had a personal errand to run. Plum even took a break from washing my back and showed me the bottle containing the medicine that she and Roxanne bought. Looking at it through my status screen confirmed that it was the real deal, as I recalled seeing this particular medicine in my medical grimoire once before, and I was so relieved and grateful that my companions had the foresight to buy some before asking this of me, since I've never actually made any of it myself, mostly because I didn't wanna seem presumptuous or force them into any uncomfortable situations at all.

The medicine was essentially birth control pills, but more powerful, and made for basically all forms of intelligent life found in this world. "Okay...then I guess we're good to go, but are you girls sure about this? Its not just the fear and doubt talking, right?" I asked them, wanting to make absolutely sure that they weren't forcing themselves to do this.

However, they both shook their heads, as Roxanne rinsed off my back and answered me again. "We're both very sure lord Damian. So please. Lets make love tonight." Roxanne whispered right in my ear, then gently bit down on it.

Roxanne's actions made my blush grow, and made me flinch and gasp a little too, as I felt the blood rush to a particular part of my body yet again. "Roxanne..." With no further doubts or concerns to hold me back, I suddenly turned towards Roxanne, wrapped my arms around her waist, and pressed my lips against hers, kissing her with more love and passion then ever before.

Roxanne was a little surprised by this at first, but was quick to return the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck. Unlike all of our previous kisses though, the two of us went full tongue on this one, as we both let out some soft moans while our tongues danced in the middle of it all. Roxanne's five tails swayed back and forth during the whole kiss, a clear sign that she was enjoying it very much.

The kiss lasted almost a full minute before the two of us needed to pull back for some air, a thin string of saliva still connecting our mouths to each other as he caught our breath. We let each other go after that, then I stood up, and walked over to Plum, giving her the exact same treatment. Her reptilian tongue was a very new feeling for me, but not a bad feeling at all.

Just as Roxanne had done, Plum happily returned the deep kiss Id given her, leaning down and placing her claws on my shoulders as she did. Though Plum was technically only a few months old, she could feel her instincts rising up from within her very being as we kissed. Plus, her lizardwoman body was more then a little overdeveloped for her age, not that I was complaining of course.

As me and Plum made out, Roxanne used her fire magic to dry herself off, then made her way over to one of the beds, and laid down on her back on it. A few seconds after I broke away from Plum for air, she called for me to come join her, looking at me with the best seductive gaze she could muster, with a tone to match, both of which weren't bad, despite her lack of experience. "C'mon lord Damian. Don't keep me waiting."

I turned towards Roxanne right away, and what I saw made my face grow even redder, as I gulped slightly as well. Kitsune were widely known for their beauty, and I could definitely see why. I was so awestruck by Roxanne's beauty, that I didn't even notice my nether region growing to full size right then and there.

Seeing all of this, Plum smiled and nudged me towards Roxanne. Being that me and Roxanne had known each other a lot longer, and that Roxanne was the first girl in my harem, Plum was perfectly fine with letting her go first. I didn't know it at the time, but the two of them had actually discussed all of this during their errand. "You heard her lord Damian. Go on. Be sure to save some energy for me though, okay?"

Plum's excited me even more, as I felt my body temperature rise like never before. "Somethin tells me that's not gonna be a problem Plum." I answered her, then approached Roxanne, climbing onto the bed with her, and kneeling down over her.

The two of us once again looked into each other's eyes and blushed, not saying or doing anything else at first. Neither of us had any previous experience with this sort of thing, so naturally, we were both more then a little nervous, but we both wanted to make our first time as memorable as possible. Fortunately, back in the world I was summoned from, I had my own room and a laptop, so I had at least seen how this was done many times before.

"Well...what are you waiting for?" Roxanne suddenly broke the silence between us, her tone a mixture of seduction and nervousness.

Before answering her, I took one more deep breath, and quickly thought back to what Id learned from the internet, hoping that that knowledge would come in handy now. "Before we get to the main event, lets start here." I said to her, then slowly moved my hands to Roxanne's chest, gently grabbing onto each of her breasts with one hand each. They may not have been as big as Plum's, but they definitely weren't small either, as my hands were just barely able to get a good hold on them.

Roxanne let out a small gasp at this, but didn't object. In fact, her tails started to sway back and forth yet again.

This was all the approval I needed, so I began to knead her breasts like balls of dough in my hands. I was gentle at first, and gradually groped them harder as time passed.

I must've been doing something right, as Roxanne started moaning immediately after I started. "Lord Damian...that feels good. I...I want you to do more to me." Unlike myself, Roxanne didn't have any internet to go off of, so she was a little lost, and relied on me to help her figure all of this out.

As one would expect, I didn't mind one bit, and happily accepted Roxanne's invitation. "Well said Roxanne. Ill certainly try my hardest for you, my dear kitsune." As I continued to give her chest a good massage, a thought crossed my mind, as my gaze fell upon my companion's fox ears. Id seen them twitching every time her magic senses were triggered, so I figured they must be pretty sensitive, and that gave me an idea. Keeping my hands on her chest, I slowly leaned down, bringing my mouth to her ears. I started by gently blowing on them, then I moved my mouth to her right ear, and began to lick and nibble it. Roxanne's fox ears were more then a little furry, but I didn't mind. All I cared about was making my companion feel as good as I possibly could.

This made Roxanne's moans grow louder right away, as she wrapped her arms around me, and dug her nails into my back without realizing it. Fortunately, my high defense kept me from taking any damage or feeling any pain. "L-Lord Damian...keep going! I love this!"

Hearing her moans and the words that followed, I kept it up, moving my mouth over to her left ear after a few minutes, while my hands remained glued to her chest. We both knew that there were other people staying at this inn, but we made absolutely no effort to keep our voices down. Our reputation was already as bad as I could get with the people of this city, so we didn't care what they thought about us or what we were doing at all.

And just in case anyone came to our door to yell at us to keep it down, Plum was standing by, ready to crush their skulls. Although, to be more accurate, Plum was sitting on another bed in our room, watching me and Roxanne intently while she waited for her turn.

After about twenty or so minutes of playing with Roxanne's ears and breasts, I suddenly stopped and pulled away from her. At first, this made Roxanne whimper and pout at me, as she wondered why I stopped. The answer came not even a minute later, as I suddenly grab onto one of Roxanne's tails, and started to pet, squeeze, and lick it.

"Ah! M-My tail!...It feels so good!" Roxanne's moans instantly returned with a vengeance, as her other four tails swayed faster, and she squirmed under me, letting me go and starting to grip the sheets of the bed we were on.

As with her ears, I didn't mind Roxanne's fur at all. In fact, as I pleasured her tail, I found myself marveling at how warm and soft her fur was. I also wondered if it was the same for all demi-humans. If their respective animal body parts were their most sensitive places, or if that was just Roxanne. Either way, this was the first time I ever truly appreciated just how amazing Roxanne's tails really felt.

I eventually found myself pleasuring three of Roxanne's tails at the same time, with one in each hand, and my mouth working on the third one. All of this nearly sent Roxanne over the edge, as she grit her teeth and gripped the bed sheets tightly, until she finally managed to get the words out in between her moans. "...Lord Damian...please...I cant take it anymore...Take me now..."

At that point, I decided that Id probably done enough for now. So I let go of Roxanne's tails, and grabbed onto her waist, slowly rubbing the tip of my manhood against her soaked entrance, which caused me to moan a little too. "This'll probably hurt at first Roxanne, but just try to relax. It'll feel really good soon."

Roxanne looked up at me again, and gave a single nod of confirmation. "I trust you lord Damian. Now please...take me."

I gave her a nod, maintained a firm but gentle hold on her waist, then slowly pushed my hardened member inside of her. I was met with some resistance at first, but after I pushed passed it, both me and Roxanne lost our virginity just like that.

At first, Roxanne winced as she grit her teeth, and gripped the sheets so hard that they began to rip, feeling a very intense pain as a result of my actions. "...It hurts." Was all Roxanne could manage to say, as she started to bleed a little as well.

At the same time, I was slowly processing an entirely new sensation, and it felt so incredibly good. Roxanne's insides were so warm and tight, I was forced to tense up my entire lower body and take several quick deep breaths just to keep myself from climaxing right then and there. This was good for Roxanne though. I didn't wanna hurt her anymore then she already was, so I stayed perfectly still, giving her time to adjust, as I spoke to her in between breaths. "...Sorry Roxanne...Just tell me when I can move...No rush."

Roxanne gave me a smile and a nod, taking a few deep breaths of her own. Several minutes later, the pain had completely melted away, and was replaced with a far nicer feeling, which was about to get even better. "Okay lord Damian...I'm fine now. Go ahead."

With her approval, I slowly started to move, pulling out of her about halfway at first, but then slowly pushing my manhood right back inside of her. I repeated these actions over and over again, steadily gaining speed as time passed. All the while, the sounds of my and Roxanne's moans filled the entire room. "...R-Roxanne...this is so amazing!...You're so amazing!...I cant stop myself now!" I said to her in between my moans, unable to stop myself from thrusting into her by that point.

"I...I don't want you to lord Damian!...It feels too good!" Roxanne was just barely able to respond through all of her own moaning, as her mind started to go hazy. Not only that, but she started to drool a little too, as her five tails swayed wildly all around us. She also moved her hands to my shoulders, and wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me even closer to her then I already was, refusing to let me go.

As our moans got louder and my thrusts got faster, I knew neither of us would last much longer, especially since it was our first time. So I decided to up the ante as much as I could before I exploded. I once again moved my hands to Roxanne's chest, grabbing onto her breasts, but this time, I also leaned down and brought my mouth into the mix as well. While my hands groped and massaged both breasts, I brought my mouth over to her right breast, and started to lick and suck on it as hard as I could. My actions seemed to pay off right away, as I felt Roxanne's inner walls grow even hotter and tighter around my nether region.

All of this caused Roxanne to moan so loud that she practically screamed in ecstasy, tightening her grips on my waist and shoulders. "LORD DAMIAN!...I'm...I'm so close!...Please don't stop! Faster! Harder!" My companion said to me through her moans, feeling her own climax rising up from within her core.

It was exactly the same for me, as I continued to thrust my rod into Roxanne with as much speed and strength as I could muster, and my hands and mouth kept going on her chest. I may have had plenty of stamina in battle and while exercising, but all of this pleasure was so new and amazing to me, so I was already extremely close to my limit.

The two of us were only able to hold it in for another minute or so, then I pulled my mouth away from Roxanne's chest, and we both moaned our loudest, reaching our respective climaxes at more or less the same time. "OH LORD DAMIAN!" Roxanne screamed out, as I released deep inside of her, but she didn't mind one bit. In fact, after we both took a few minutes to catch our breath, she weakly smiled, looking and sounding very happy. "...Thank you. That was wonderful." She let me go, and just laid there on the bed, covered from head to toe in sweat.

The same could be said about me, as I slowly pulled out of her once I felt her let me go, causing some of our combined love juices to leak out of Roxanne's lower lips. I smiled down at her after that, before leaning down, and giving her one more deep kiss. "I should be thanking you Roxanne. I love you so much, my dear kitsune."

Roxanne happily returned my kiss, then felt her heart flutter when she heard my words. "And I love you too, so much, my demon lord of the shield."

_"Demon lord of the shield. That kinda has a nice ring to it. I like it." _I thought to myself, but my thoughts, and our moment was suddenly brought to a close by the sound of a very familiar voice.

"Sorry to interrupt, but its my turn now lord Damian. So come on. Watching you and Roxanne really got me going." Plum called out to me in the best seductive tone she could muster, having grown a little impatient, and more then a little hot and bothered after watching me and Roxanne make sweet love.

The second I turned to look at Plum, my eyes widened, and my man zone grew to full hardness again right away. Without either me or Roxanne noticing, Plum moved from one of the other beds to the ground, got down on her claws and knees facing away from me, and was currently shaking her backside and tail right at me.

Roxanne saw this too, then turned back to me, seeing my stunned and aroused state, which made her giggle to herself a little. "Well, what are you waiting for lord Damian? Go on. You're the one who wanted a harem, so you'd better not get tired before our favorite dragon does." She said to me in a teasing tone of voice, playfully nudging towards Plum with one of her feet.

With that, I came back to my senses, prepared myself for round two, and moved down towards Plum, standing on my knees directly behind her. This was yet another new feeling for me. I was pretty worn out after doing it with Roxanne, but at the same time, every single part of me wanted to show Plum the same love at that moment. Not just because Plum was insanely cute and hot at the same time, but also because she too was very dear to me, and I wanted to show her just how much I loved her. So I took another deep breath, and slapped both sides of my face at the same time, psyching myself up and recomposing myself before smiling at my scaly companion. "Okay. Feels kind of redundant to ask this at this point, but ya ready Plum?"

Maintaining her current position, Plum glanced back at me, smiled back, and nodded at me. "Of course I am lord Damian. Now please make love to me too. I cant wait any longer." Plum squirmed with a mixture of anticipation and excitement, not looking or sounding embarrassed or nervous at all, but me and Roxanne had come to expect that sort of thing from her by now.

Plum's antics did well to remove some of the nervousness I was feeling, as I smiled down at my scaly companion. Not wanting to keep her waiting, I grabbed onto her waist, and lined up my hardened rod with her entrance. Fortunately, she was still in her lizardwoman form, which made all of this a lot easier, not to mention sexier. Then, gathering every ounce of strength I had left, I pushed my nether region inside Plum, claiming her virginity in the process.

Just like with Roxanne, both me and Plum started moaning at this right away, feeling a very intense amount of pleasure from it. Plum's insides were very warm and tight, just like Roxanne's were, but being inside of her felt so different. For one thing, I felt the same resistance as I felt when I first entered Roxanne, but when I broke through it, Plum didn't bleed at all, nor did she seem to be in any kind of pain. In the end, I chalked that up to her incredible level of physical strength and resilience. For another thing, Plum was a cold blooded reptile, and the difference in temperature was definitely noticeable. Of course, its not like I was complaining about any of that stuff at all.

"Oh lord Damian...So this is what mating feels like...I like it. I really like it." Plum remarked in between her pants and moans, feeling her instincts as a dragon start to take hold over her, but she didn't mind one bit.

"Don't get too excited Plum...It'll feel even better soon." I responded to her, still very sensitive after doing it with Roxanne. As such, I knew that I wouldn't last long, but I didn't wanna disappoint Plum either. So before I started moving my hips, I moved my hands from Plum's waist to her butt, giving both cheeks a good squeeze with both of my hands, as I started to thrust my manhood in and out of Plum. Given how tough she was, I didn't bother going easy on her, moving as fast as I could right away.

This finally made Plum start to blush, as the scales on her face changed into a reddish purple color. Never the less, the dragon empress still smiled and moaned, really enjoying everything that was being done to her. "Ah!...Lord Damian!...I love you! I love you! I love you!"

I grit my teeth, and gripped her butt even tighter, never slowing my pace for even a moment. "...I love you too Plum...and I'm sure you'll love this too!" I said to her, then suddenly pulled my right hand away from her butt, using it to grab onto the tip of Plum's tail, which had been flailing around rapidly from the moment I entered her. Fortunately, I was still able to grab onto it, and once I did, I started relentlessly rubbing the tip of it.

The tail seemed to be a sensitive spot for Plum too, as she started moaning even louder as soon as I started rubbing it. "M-My tail!...Is this how Roxanne felt too?!...Its so amazing!"

While still groping her butt and thrusting even deeper and faster into her, I continued to give Plum's tail a good rub down. After a few minutes, I even brought the tip to my mouth, and proceeded to slowly lick and suck on it as well.

This caused Plum to grip the wooden floor under her claws so hard that she actually drove her claws straight through it, as she began to move her body in nearly perfect sync with my thrusts. "AH!...W-What is this?...It feels like...my mind is going blank!...I love it!...Please give me more lord Damian! Like you did with Roxanne!"

Hearing this, I decided to try something else. So, after another several minutes of licking and sucking the tip of Plum's tail, and groping her butt, I leaned forward, making sure to stay inside of her and keep thrusting, then reached down, and grabbed onto her breasts, starting to squeeze and massage them as best as I could. This was easier said then done though. Plum's chest was more then twice the size of Roxanne's, and Roxanne's chest wasn't small by any means. Getting my hands on Plum's breasts was a challenge, but I eventually managed to find some good hand holds, then got right to work, doing my best to satisfy Plum, just as Id done for Roxanne. And despite how scaly they felt, Plum's chest was very plump and firm, much like her backside, both of which I took time to thoroughly appreciate.

In response to this, Plum let out a scream that sounded kind of like a dragon's roar for a moment, and wrapped her tail around my waist, pulling our bodies even closer together, and forcing my erection as deep inside of her as it could go. "LORD DAMIAN!...My insides feel hot!...It feels like something is rising up from within me!...What is it?!"

I kept moving my hips as fast as I could, squeezing her breasts as hard as I could, and did my best to answer her through my own moaning. "...You saw it before Plum!...With me and Roxanne!...Don't hold back! Just let it flow!...I'm getting there again myself!"

As her instincts continued to rage throughout her mind and body, Plum listened to my words, remembered the finale between me and Roxanne, and completely surrendered herself to it all, as the sounds our moans and my waist slapping against her backside filled the room. "I love you lord Damian! I always will!...So please...show me how much you love me!" Even in the middle of all of this, Plum's emotion sensing abilities did their job, showing her that I loved her just as much as she loved me.

With sweat dripping off of my body, and my hands still glued to Plum's chest, I felt my second climax approaching, and it felt just as powerful as my first one. If that was even possible at this point. "Ill always love you too Plum!...So here it is!...Take it all!" We both moaned as loudly as we could, as I released my second load deep inside Plum, and she released her own just a few seconds after I did.

For a full minute, we both just stayed still, catching our breath. Since she was so strong, it didn't take Plum very long to catch her breath, as she unwrapped her tail from my waist, and stopped gripping the wooden floor beneath her claws.

I, on the other hand, was completely exhausted. After fighting against today's wave of catastrophe, its monsters, and Glass, followed by an argument with the king, and finally this, Id had a very taxing day. Not that I was complaining about any of what just happened between me and my beloved companions of course. Still, that didn't change the fact that I was spent, and Roxanne and Plum were both fairly exhausted themselves. "...Girls...I love you both so much, but how about we skip our workout routine just for tonight? I think we've gotten more then enough exercise in today. Any objections?" I asked my girls, slowly getting back on my feet, and wiping some sweat from my forehead.

"Nope. I'm good. Lets just call it a night." Roxanne answered me, still laying back on the bed I left her on, refusing to get up until she's had a good night's rest.

"Agreed, but first..." Plum smiled and nodded in agreement with Roxanne's words, but then she once again demonstrated her strength to us. Even in her weakened state, she still walked over to another of the beds, and pushed it over to the bed that Roxanne was laying on, pushing the two beds together so they looked like one big bed. The dragon empress smiled once again at her handy work, then climbed onto the large bed. "There. Now all three of us can sleep together in the same bed."

Seeing this, me and Roxanne were both a little surprised at first, but then we both smiled at this. "Thanks Plum. We really appreciate it." I said to her in a grateful tone, then proceeded to blow out the candles in our room, climbing into bed with my companions after that.

The two of them made sure that I was in the middle, so that each of them could snuggle up against me with happy and content smiles on their faces. "You're the only man Ill ever love lord Damian. Thank you so much for tonight, and everything else." Roxanne said to me in a soft and loving tone, as she and Plum pulled the sheets over all three of our bodies.

"The same goes for me lord Damian. Even if the entire world rejects you, we'll never ever leave you." Plum added with the same tone of voice, then she and Roxanne gently kissed both of my cheeks at the same time.

After everything that just happened, and listening to everything my dear companions just told me, I smiled once more, feeling happier then Id been in years. Maybe even in my entire life, as I wrapped one arm around each of my girls, holding them close to me, and returning each of their kisses. "Roxanne, Plum, I'm so grateful to have met both of you. And of course, you know that Ill never turn my back on you two either. Its us against the world, and the world is gonna lose. Just wait and see girls. Its kind of a cliché where I came from, but a bright future is waiting for us as long as we stick together. A future even brighter then Roxanne's new Laser Ray spell. I know it."

My words made Roxanne and Plum feel just as happy as I was, as all three of us closed our eyes, stayed close together, and got to sleep not even a minute after that. That was definitely the best night of our adventure so far, as I once again thanked my lucky stars and my lord Lucifer for being summoned to this new world, just before drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

X

The following morning brought a very beautiful day with it, as the sun shone brightly in a nearly cloudless sky. However, after everything we'd experienced yesterday, me, Roxanne, and Plum ended up sleeping in a little later then we usually did. Still, that didn't keep us down for too long, as we all awoke from our slumber about an hour after we normally woke up every morning.

All three of us felt incredibly refreshed after what was probably the best night's sleep that any of us have ever had, but Roxanne was feeling a little sore as a result of last night's activities. Thankfully, it was nothing my healing magic couldn't fix. Me and Plum were perfectly fine though, and once we were all up and out of bed, both Roxanne and Plum made sure to take some of the medicine they bought yesterday.

After that, the three of us ended up having to clean ourselves once again, since last night's activities also left us all with several rather distinct odors. Once that was done, we all finally got dressed and ready for the day, heading downstairs to grab some breakfast. As expected, some of the other guests, as well as the inn's staff kept stealing glances at us as we ate, and some looked at us with disgust all over their faces as well. None of us cared what the humans of this city thought of us of course, but that didn't stop Roxanne from using her First Light spell to temporary blind them all. All three of us shared a laugh after that, then finished our breakfast, paid for it all, and left the inn.

With that, it was off to Erhard's, after stopping to grab our carriage of course. Just like he said he would, Erhard made good on his word, having gathered up all the food, potions, medical supplies, and everything else we would need for our long journey to Siltvelt. Not only that, but the blacksmith also finished the gauntlets Roxanne had asked him to make. The two gauntlets were identical, down to the last detail. Both were made from magic steel, and were pure white in color, with black around the knuckles and edges.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum packed up everything into our carriage, then paid Erhard for it all, and once again thanked him for everything. The blacksmith once again wished us good luck on our journey, then Plum transformed into her dragon form, me and Roxanne hooked her up to the carriage, climbed on board ourselves, and off we went. We left the city of Melromarc, not knowing if or when we'd return, but we all hoped that it would be never.

As Plum pulled the carriage down one of the roads leaving Melromarc, Roxanne held the reins, while I read the map. Our first destination was the territory of a nobleman by the name of Idol Rabier. We knew that he had Roxanne's sister-at-arms, Sasha, and we were gonna save her no matter what it took to do so. Once that was done, our next and final destination was the kingdom of Siltvelt, where we'd hopefully get some peace and respect. Two things that we never got, or would get from the rulers of Melromarc.

The three of us traveled non-stop until the sun started to set, determined to reach our destinations as soon as possible. Me and Roxanne didn't want Plum to overexert herself though, so we eventually found a peaceful enough looking stop on the side of the road next to some large rock formations, and pulled over to have some lunch. As the three of us enjoyed our meal, as well as the scenery all around us, it finally started to sink in that once we were out of Melromarc, we wouldn't have to deal with its annoying as hell royalty, the three cardinal stooges, or any of their crap ever again.

Those thoughts made us all smile, as we all noticed some large bird type monsters squawking and flying overhead, which was a nice touch to the peaceful scenery all around us. However, the sound of a familiar voice suddenly re-captured the attention of all three of us. "I finally found you!"

All three of us quickly recognized that voice, then heard the sounds of horse hooves and carriage wheels traveling down a dirt road as well. We all turned in the direction we came from not too long ago, and that's when we saw who the voice belonged to. It was Melty, accompanied by a squad of Melromarc knights.

"Its Melty, and she seems to be happy and relieved to see us." Plum was the first to comment on this rather sudden development, able to sense Melty's emotions from where we sat, but still tilted her head in confusion. "Why would she come out all this way just to see us?"

Seeing Melty's approach, I let out a sigh, then quickly finished my food before speaking. "This girl is very persistent. Ill give her that." I spoke in a slightly annoyed tone, already knowing very well why Melty had come to see me and my party.

Roxanne knew the reason for Melty's visit as well, and was quick to follow my lead, finishing her own food, then speaking up in a tone that matched my own. "If you ask me, she really needs to learn when to take "No" for an answer. If only her mother could've taught her that."

Our words confused Plum even more, but just like always, she was able to use my and Roxanne's emotions as a kind of guideline. Sensing that there may be some tension in the near future, Plum finished her own meal as well, and hoped that my and Roxanne's emotions wouldn't get any worse then they already were.

Melty's knights and the carriage carrying her came to a stop several yards away from me, my party, and our carriage not long after that. Once they did, Melty climbed out of the carriage, and proceeded to walk towards us on her own, while her knights stayed back and watched.

As we watched all of this unfold, me, Roxanne, and Plum got back on our feet, keeping our eyes on the young princess. However, we also did well to keep our wits about us, since we were still technically in Melromarc's territory.

"Sir shield hero, I have a request for you. Please return to the capital with me, and speak with king Aultcray again." Melty stopped about one yard away from me, and began to speak right away, her tone still as dignified as ever.

I wasn't even a little surprised by her words, and was quick to respond in a blunt and unyielding tone. "We've been over this Melty, and my answer is still the same. Not a chance in hell. I spoke with that idiot father of yours just yesterday, and I'm sure you already know, it did not go well."

Melty did indeed speak with her father yesterday, a little after I did, and the memories of that conversation made her flinch slightly. However, the blue haired princess quickly regained her composure, and demonstrated once again how persistent she could be. "I want you to apologize to the king for your conduct and reconcile with him."

That request made both me and Roxanne start glaring at Melty, as I raised my voice at her too. "Apologize?! To that piece of human garbage?! Forget it! If anything, he owes all of us an apology! But ya know what?! It doesn't even matter anymore! Like we told you the other day, we're outta here! We survived the most recent wave, we've got all the supplies we need for our trip to another kingdom, and we're done with this kingdom full of morons and scumbags!"

All of this caused Melty to flinch again, as she quickly tensed up, looking like she was trying to keep herself from yelling back at me or something. She was just barely able to maintain her composure, then let out a small sigh, and continued to speak to me in a calm and composed tone. "We need your help sir shield hero. We just cant stop the waves without you. Besides, it wont matter if you leave for another kingdom. Without the help of the king and the other three heroes, you wont survive the next wave either."

Upon hearing this, my and Roxanne's facial expressions suddenly softened, as we both got a full minute of laughter out of Melty's response. The princess looked at us with high levels of confusion as we laughed, then I gave her a response once we finally stopped. "And I was startin to think you didn't have a sense of humor Melty. This may come as a shock to you, but during the last wave, the three cardinal stooges were absolutely no help at all. Me, Roxanne, and Plum did all the heavy lifting ourselves. With the right amount of training, and some more party members, I'm pretty sure we can handle most, if not all of the future waves on our own."

"The only things your father and the other "heroes" are good for is the occasional laugh, and creating more work and headaches for us. We'll be just fine without them, but there's no way they'll survive the next wave without us. This kingdom is doomed, but its not our problem. Not anymore. And if you're left in any doubt Melty, here's a few stories from our adventure so far." Roxanne added, then went on to tell Melty all about the plant monster outbreak, the dragon zombie epidemic, and the famine stricken village in great detail.

The young princess was shocked when she heard all of this, but the thing that really got to her was my continued refusal to even consider making amends with her father. That, on top of this new information regarding the three cardinal stooges, caused the princess to clench her fist and look down, starting to feel a sense of hopelessness.

All three of us looked at her, and me and Roxanne did feel a little bad about this outcome, but not nearly bad enough to go back to Melromarc with her. At the same time, Plum continued to sense the emotions coming from Melty, and they made her look down a small girl with a look of sorrow on her face.

"Why?" Melty suddenly spoke up, keeping her head down. Then, without warning, or waiting for an answer, she looked at us again and started yelling. "Why cant you and my father just get along?! This whole thing is ridiculous! A hero and the king cant be fight amongst themselves! Its just not right!"

Admittedly, the three of us were a bit surprised by Melty's sudden outburst, but only for a few seconds. Once she stopped yelling, I spoke to her yet again. "Woah! Easy kid. Sounds like you've been holdin that in for a while. Even so, we're not going back to Melromarc with you, and that's final."

Hearing this, Melty started glaring at me, and kept on yelling. "Look, just apologize to father! Just this once! If you don't, mother will yell at him when she comes back!"

Melty's response surprised me yet again, as I raised an eyebrow down at the girl. _"Wait, mother? The queen? Why would she be so worried about the queen getting mad at the king of all things?"_

My thoughts came to a rather abrupt end, as Melty continued to glare and yell at me. "Hey, are you listening to me?!"

After letting out yet another sigh, I glared right back at her, easily able to match her volume. "How could I not?! Now listen Melty, why don't you just go back to-" My response was suddenly cut short, as I noticed something odd. Something that instantly made me feel uneasy.

For some reason, one of Melty's knights was holding a crystal ball, and was grinning at the whole scene that was playing out before his eyes. Then, without so much as a word or any kind of warning, another knight drew his sword, and charged straight for Melty while her back was turned, and her attention was on me.

I could definitely understand why the knights of Melromarc would have a beef with me, but as the lone knight got closer and closer, it became more and more clear that he wasn't after my head. He was after Melty's.

As I watched all of this happen, my brain started going a mile a minute. I knew that I had a choice to make, and even though Melty was a human, as well as a human that was currently yelling at me and telling me to apologize to the bastard that was her father, I wasted no time in making up my mind, but the decision I ended up making surprised even me. Without a word, I suddenly grabbed Melty, pulled her close to me, and used my shield to block the sword of the knight that tried to kill her, saving the girl's life.

Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all gasped in shock at this turn of events, as both Roxanne and Plum were completely focused on Melty prior to this development. None of them saw this coming at all, and they all instantly started to wonder why it was happening to begin with.

As for me, I continued to hold the knight's sword back with my shield, and started glaring at him without realizing it. I wasn't sure what was happening either, but for some reason, it really pissed me off.

**Phew! Like I said, its the longest chapter yet. If you managed to power through all of that, then Id like to thank you yet again for sticking it out. I don't know how long the next chapter will be exactly, but I can say with complete certainty that it will definitely not be nearly as long as this one. However, shorter doesn't mean less entertaining, so I suggest you all keep that in mind as well.**

**Anyway, it looks like Damian, Roxanne, and Plum narrowly escaped death at the fans of Glass, but just who is she? What is she? Why was she after Damian? And when will she appear before our demon lord and his companions again? Only time will tell.**

**In the meantime, it looks like yet another new enemy has set their sights on Damian. It also looks like Damian and his companion's plans to leave Melromarc for good have hit a snag, but what else is new? Right?**

**Damian, Roxanne, and Plum have all grown much stronger, and have acquired new and powerful skills, but the questions remains. Will all of that be enough for them to escape from this new situation they've suddenly found themselves in the middle of, find and save Sasha, and get the hell out of Melromarc?**

**And what will become of young Melty? Why would one of her knights suddenly turn on her? Damian, Roxanne, and Plum will get to the bottom of this mystery, or they could just decided to leave the princess to die and move on with their original plan.**

**Which route will Damian and his dear companions decide to take? Will this virus madness ever end so I can get my life back on track? The answers to all of these questions and more to come await you next time. Right here!**

**Be sure to stay healthy, stay safe, and always remember your masks until then everyone. Thanks, take care, and I wish you all a pleasant tomorrow.**


	15. Ch 14 - Are You Good or Evil?

**Plum: Hello everyone! Its me, Plum! The author apologizes for not being here himself, but he's currently off exploring some place called the Isle of Armor, so he asked me to fill in for him this time. I hope I do okay, and that all of you are doing okay too. From what the author told me, it sounds like the situation in your world is pretty bad. I know its not much, but all of us here are really hoping that the situation finally comes to an end soon. Until then, please be sure to stay safe, okay?**

**Plum: Anyway, moving on, the author also told me to give something called a shout out to three of our very dedicated and enthusiastic readers. RedTokyo95, Captain Marlfox, and Prometheus-777. Thank you all so much for all of your support, reviews, and words of encouragement! All of you are great, and we all really appreciate enthusiasm like yours here!**

**Plum: Well, I think that's everything. Please enjoy the following chapter. Oh! And the author doesn't own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its locations, characters, or events. The author only owns the OC's that he's created. Like me.**

Chapter 14 - Are You Good or Evil?

After what was probably the most eventful day of our lives so far, me, Roxanne, and Plum were finally ready to put our master plan into motion. To save Roxanne's long lost sister-at-arms Sasha, leave Melromarc behind for good, and head for the kingdom of Siltvelt, where we'd spend our days until we had the money and resources necessary to build our own kingdom. Of course, we all knew that without our help, Melromarc would definitely be destroyed when the next wave of catastrophe hit. However, after all the crap Melromarc and its people have given us since the beginning of our adventure, we really didn't give a damn. The three of us had survived trial after trial, most of which were the results of the vast, unending idiocy of the three cardinal stooges, as well as the efforts of the bastard king and his bitchy daughter out to get us.

All of their attempts to eliminate us failed though, and as a result, all three of us had grown much stronger. Far stronger then any "hero", adventurer, or knight in all of Melromarc, so while they needed us, we most definitely did not need them for anything. So, after purchasing all the supplies we needed for the trip from one of our few human allies, Erhard, we loaded up our carriage and set out for our first destination. The territory of a Melromarc nobleman by the name of Idol Rabier, who we knew had Sasha, thanks to information provided by another of our few human allies, Beloukas, if one could call a slave trader an ally of course.

At first, it seemed like we were in the clear, and that all the bad times in Melromarc were behind us, but several hours after we left the capital city, we got an unexpected visit from Melty, who was the only member of the royal family that we knew and didn't hate with a burning passion. The young princess approached us, and begged us to come back with her to the capital to make peace with her father, the king. Naturally, we refused, and an argument ensued, but my focus was drawn to Melty's squad of knights when I noticed one of them holding a crystal ball, and another of them coming at Melty from behind with his sword in hand. I quickly realized that something was wrong, and as if on instinct, I saved Melty's life, pulling her towards me and using my shield to block the sword of the knight who attempted to kill the blue haired girl.

Roxanne and Plum were both totally focused on Melty prior to me saving her life, so the two of them gasped in shock at what they saw when they finally took notice. Neither of them ever imagined anything like this transpiring, but based on the magic Roxanne was now sensing from the crystal ball, as well as the emotions Plum was sensing from the knights, the two of them quickly assessed the situation and raised their guards.

As for me, I just glared at the knight that tried to slice Melty's head off, holding his sword back with my shield while doing so. "You wanna tell me what the hell you're doin?" I questioned the knight in a very unamused tone. I wasn't entirely sure why, but watching this armor plated bastard almost kill Melty really pissed me off. Maybe it was because Melty still reminded me of my little sister Julie when she was Melty's age, but I was far too angry to even begin to ponder it at that moment, as I then used my shield to push the knight away from me, and waited for his response.

The knight struggled a bit to maintain his balance after being pushed backwards, but once his struggle had ended, he gripped the handle of his sword with both hands, glared right back at me, and started yelling as loud as he could. "Curse you shield hero! How dare you take the royal princess Melty hostage!"

With those words alone, it was easy for me and Roxanne to see that this was a setup, but not just for our party. Whoever was behind this was clearly after Melty as well, and both of us already had a pretty good idea of who it was. Just the thought of that particular person made our blood start to boil, as Roxanne quickly pulled her own sword out of its scabbard, gripped the handle tightly, and prepared herself for battle.

Meanwhile, Plum was still a little lost, but the emotions she'd started sensing from the knights was more then enough for her to understand that something was very wrong. However, Melty was far more confused then Plum was, turning towards her knight with a mixture of shock and confusion present on her face. The young princess had no idea what was going on, but through it all, she could her judgement practically screaming at her to stay close to me, so she did just that for the time being.

"Bullshit! You clearly just tried to kill her you bastard! This is another one of Malty's schemes, isn't it?! Talk!" I yelled right back at the knight in a very threatening tone, already at least 90% sure that this was Malty's doing. True, I may not have had any physical evidence to back that up, but based on what I knew about Malty, including her various attempts to discredit and destroy me and my girls, as well as her very obvious resentment towards her younger sister, I felt like my accusation was more then justified.

"How dare you accuse princess Malty of such a thing you rotten devil! Fellow knights, justice is ours! Lets destroy this devil of the shield once and for all!" The knight quickly retorted, then his fellow knights sprang into action immediately after hearing his words.

Many of the knights grabbed their weapons and charged straight for me and my party while shouting out the loudest battle cries they could muster, but me, my companions, and Melty noticed that two knights had chosen to stay where they were, and one of them was the knight with the crystal ball. Instead of joining the battle, the two knights were just standing back, while the one with the crystal ball was holding the orb out in front of him in a way that looked like he was using it to record every last second of the scene that was playing out before him, and grinned rather deviously the entire time, looking very proud of himself.

This only further confirmed the suspicions that me and my companions had regarding all of this, but despite this, as well as the hoard of knights charging at us, not a single one of us was intimidated. Not even a little. "First of all, I'm a demon lord. The demon lord of the shield. Not just any mere devil. Secondly, fine. Don't answer me. Its your funeral." I managed to calm myself back down a little, as I spoke to the knight that started the attack. After that, I turned my head slightly, and glanced at Plum, addressing her next. "Plum, bury them. All of them."

"I'm still not exactly sure why any of this is happening, but okay lord Damian. As you wish." Still in her dragon form, Plum answered me in a slightly confused, but calm tone. She then moved out in front of us to meet the knights from Melromarc head on, channeling a fairly large amount of magic power down into her right foot, and putting her game face on, with a tone to match. "Be swallowed up by the land! Earthquake!" Plum raised her right foot, then stomped it down on the ground as hard as she could in the direction of the knights.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, causing all of the knights to come to a complete stop, and look all around themselves with confusion and unease all over their faces. However, it was already far too late for them. Before any of them knew what was happening, a huge crevice opened up directly under their feet. Needless to say, the knights were all shocked, and began to scream and shout at the tops of their lungs, as they all fell down into the crevice, which looked like it went on forever.

Even the knights who'd chosen to stand back weren't safe from this gruesome fate, but Plum stopped her spell just before it tore open the ground underneath the horses, and the carriage they were hooked up to. Like always, we made sure to spare the lives of any and all non-humans that were present, but the knights received absolutely no mercy themselves. Once the entire squad had fallen down far enough, Plum stomped her foot on the ground a second time, slamming the crevice shut, instantly crushing everyone and everything inside.

Now that the knights had literally been buried alive, me and Roxanne both calmed down completely, and Plum turned back towards us with a smile on her face. "All done lord Damian. They wont be getting back up after that."

Me and Roxanne both smiled back at our scaly companion, as Roxanne put her sword away, and I walked over to Plum. Upon reaching her, I gently rubbed the top of her head, and planted an equally gentle kiss on the tip of her snout. I was forced to stand on the tips of my toes in order to reach Plum's head, but I didn't mind. "Thanks Plum. Great job."

Naturally, Plum was very happy to receive both praise and shows of affection from me, but Melty's spirits weren't nearly as high at that moment. After everything that just took place, the blue haired girl slowly fell to her knees and lowered her head, all without saying even a single word.

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned towards her just a few seconds after that, and it was Roxanne who was first to question the young girl. "Are you gonna be okay there Melty?" Roxanne's tone contained only a small amount of concern, as her feelings towards the blue haired princess were still up in the air.

Not that it mattered much, since the human girl didn't answer, or even hear Roxanne's question at all. She just continued to sit in the middle of the road, keeping her head down, and gripping her dress tightly with both hands. Even though she didn't actually see it coming, Melty was still smart enough to see, without a doubt, that her own knights had attempted to bring her life to an end. She wasn't sure what to say, or even think at that moment at all, as she remained totally silent, and tried desperately to process this completely unforeseen turn of events.

While Melty was busy contemplating, I told Plum to stay close to her in case any more knights or monsters were hiding close by. While Plum was doing that, me and Roxanne walked over to Melty's carriage, and unhooked the horses from it. As soon as they were free, the horses turned and ran off, likely returning to Melromarc. Of course, we knew that as soon as the people of Melromarc saw several horses return to the city with no carriage or people, they'd get suspicious, especially the people who sent those knights to kill Melty, but we just didn't have it in us to leave the horses out here to starve to death, or get attacked and killed by monsters. Besides, we also knew that whoever was watching on the other end of that crystal ball already saw everything anyway.

With all of that in mind, we planned to get off the main road, move as fast as we could towards Idol's territory, and find as many places as we could to hide along the way. But before that, me and Roxanne grabbed any and all food and items we found in the back of Melty's carriage, and loaded it into the back of our carriage as quickly as possible. Once that was done, we hooked Plum back up to our carriage, but didn't leave just yet. We were about to, but then we all took another look at Melty, and knew right away that if we left her all alone, she'd die for sure.

All three of us took a quick moment to talk about it amongst ourselves, and came to a unanimous decision. With that, I turned, walked back over to Melty, and gently tapped the top of her head. "Hey, c'mon. Lets go."

This caused Melty to come back to reality, as she slowly turned, and looked up at me with confusion. "Huh? What do you mean? Go where?"

"We'll explain everything once we're out of danger, but for now, you're comin with us princess. We're not gonna leave you out here by yourself." I answered her, doing my best to sound comforting, knowing how difficult this must've been for her.

Melty listened to me, then got back on her feet, instantly regaining some of her moxie. "Just take me back to Melromarc! I'm not sure why my own knights attacked me, but I'm sure if we tell father what happened, he'll sort it out for us!"

Hearing this, both me and Roxanne sighed, then I knelt down to meet Melty at eye level. I looked the blue haired girl straight in the eye, giving her a clear, concise, and very serious tone, and a facial expression to go along with it. "Melty, listen to me very carefully. You are a princess, and one of your knights tried to kill you, while another knight watched with a crystal ball in his hands. The only people that the knights of Melromarc would ever obey besides you are Malty, the king, and the queen. The only reason your knights would ever try to kill you is if one of them told them to. Could your knights have been simple traitors to the thrown? Possibly, but then, why would they have needed the crystal ball? There's only one answer. This was a setup. Someone was watching on the other side of that crystal ball. Someone who wanted you dead, and was planning on framing me and my party for your murder."

Melty once again listened to my every word, quickly getting lost in thought again for about twenty seconds before responding. "...Y-You really think my own sister, or one of my parents would do something like this? But why? I don't understand." The young princess asked me with a great deal of confusion, and a hint of fear in her voice, as she came to the realization that everything I just told her made a lot of sense.

Staying calm, I nodded at her, then answered her. "Believe me Melty, I definitely wouldn't put something like this passed your old man and your bitch of a sister. Still, the two of them are idiots. Major idiots. There's no way they came up with a plan like this on their own. They've gotta be working with someone. I have no idea who, but one thing is perfectly clear. If you stay here, or go back to Melromarc right now, you'll die. The only safe place for you right now is with us. So again I say, lets go."

After another minute of looking at me and thinking it over, Melty gave me a nod, knowing once again that I was right. So once I got back on my feet, the two of us walked over to our carriage, then I helped Melty inside, and climbed on after her.

I grabbed the reins once again, and off we went, moving as fast as we could towards our destination, while doing our best to stick to the more secluded routes along the way. Neither me, nor Roxanne were particularly thrilled about bringing a human with us on our trip, especially since we both knew that this would definitely complicate our plans, but no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn't bring ourselves to leave Melty to die.

However, the damage was done. Even though the entire knight squad, and their crystal ball were crushed underground, Malty still got exactly what she needed on the other end. None of us knew it at the time, but shit was about to get very real.

X

Before any of us knew it, two whole days had gone by, and we kept on moving almost the entire time. On the plus side, we were making good time, as Idol's territory wasn't much further from our current location. But, on the minus side, we were forced to stay hidden in forests and abandoned towns all day and night.

After obtaining the footage from the crystal ball, Malty used magic to modify it to make it look like me, Roxanne, and Plum killed those knights completely unprovoked, then kidnapped Melty. Once that was done, she had her knights distribute it to every town and village throughout Melromarc, making sure that every last citizen saw it.

Needless to say, when the king saw the footage, he was way beyond furious. He ordered every knight, adventurer, and citizen of Melromarc to search for us, turn us over to him immediately, and save his daughter. Then, almost overnight, knights were stationed at every checkpoint leading in and out of every last town and village in all the land of Melromarc. Not only that, but wanted posters of all three of us were put up all over the place, with very strict orders for anyone who saw us to turn us in, dead or alive.

As a result, none of us could risk showing our faces anywhere near civilization, so we were forced to sleep in a forest on the first night of our journey, with one of us staying awake and keeping watch for almost the entire night, until it was time for them to tag out of course. And on the evening of the second day of our journey, Roxanne used her Hide Mirage spell to sneak into the closest village without being detected, in order to see for herself just how bad things had become for us.

While she was doing that, the rest of us made camp in a different forest for the night. Me and Plum kept watch, and Melty just sat by the fire, as we all waited for Roxanne to return.

Our favorite kitsune returned just as the sky got dark, and once she did, she got straight to work on dinner for all of us. Me and Plum felt bad making Roxanne do so much work herself, but she was the only one of us who knew how to cook, as well as the only one of us with the stealth skills necessary to sneak in and out of enemy territory safely.

As Roxanne cooked, I walked over, and sat down beside her. "Glad ya made it back safely. How'd things look? Any changes?"

Roxanne smiled at me when I sat down next to her, but her smile vanished when she answered my questions, shaking her head from side to side a few times. "I'm afraid not. In fact, things are even worse here then they were in the last village I snuck into. This village had way more knights on guard then the last one did. More adventurers too. However, I did snag one of these from one of the knights, and overhead a few of them talking about something called the Three Heroes Church." My dear kitsune said to me, then reached into her pocket, and pulled out the object she stole from one of the knights, showing it to me.

I listened to Roxanne's every word, then looked down at the item in her hand, recognizing it immediately. "That's the same pendant the woman from back at the castle showed me. The one that stopped me after my most recent argument with the king. One of the knights had this? And what's this Three Heroes Church?" I asked, picking the pendant up out of Roxanne's hand to get a closer look at it.

Roxanne gave me a nod, then turned her gaze back to the food she was cooking, but still answered my questions. "Not just one. Almost all the knights I saw had one of those pendants on them. As for the Three Heroes Church, I heard some of the knights talking about it. Apparently, they worship the sword, spear, and bow heroes. Its the state religion of Melromarc it seems. I also heard some of the knights say that the shield hero will pay for disrupting the natural order or some garbage like that, but none of them said anything about what the hell that's supposed to mean."

Upon hearing all of this, I got a look of disbelief on my face right away. "An entire religion that worships those three imbeciles? Seriously? All three of them are committing at least three of the Seven Deadly Sins each. If they died right now, they definitely wouldn't go to heaven. That's for damn sure. Still, I'm not surprised this religion doesn't worship the shield hero too. Not after Melromarc's dumbass king has spent years demonizing the shield hero, and spreading that hate around to all of his citizens like a disease. In fact, he probably started this whole idiotic religion."

As soon as she heard me bad mouthing her father, Melty suddenly stood up from the fallen tree she was sitting on, and turned to face me with a serious facial expression and tone of voice. "If you're going to talk that way about my father, then could you at least finally tell me why you and him hate each other so much?! We've been running from him and his forces for the past two days, but you still haven't told me anything!"

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all turned our gazes towards Melty, knowing that what she said was the truth. In the two days since we'd left Melromarc, we'd been soon busy dodging the eyes of literally every single human we passed, that we haven't had the time to tell Melty the whole story. So, after exchanging some nods with my companions, we all agreed that now was as good a time as any. So I grabbed a seat on another fallen tree on the other side of the fire across from Melty, and looked straight at her, taking a deep breath before speaking. "You remember the stories we told you about the sword, spear, and bow heroes, right Melty?"

Melty sat back down on her log, and nodded at me, recalling the stories we told very recently about the plant monsters, the dragon zombie, and the famine stricken village, all of which were caused by the idiocy of the three cardinal stooges. "Yes, I remember, and I can understand why all three of you would hate them, but what about my father?"

"Its kind of a long story, but it wouldn't have as much impact if I left anything out. So listen up, because here it is. All of it." I said to the young princess, then proceeded to tell her everything that happened between me and Aultcray since my arrival in this world. Every little detail, no matter how small. I also took this opportunity to tell Melty everything that her elder sister had done to me and my companions as well, once again making sure not to leave anything out of my explanation.

The suspense had been building up within Melty for the past two days, so she listened to my every word very intently. However, she was shocked once more by the things she'd heard. From her sister and father framing me for rape and rigging the trial against me, to her father threatening to bring harm to Roxanne and Plum if I refused to tell him the secret to my level of power, and everything in between.

By that point, Roxanne had finished cooking dinner for all of us, and began to pass plates of food around to everyone, as she spoke to Melty not long after I finished. "Is it at least starting to sink in Melty? The three of us have done nothing wrong to him. Your father is the instigator here."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum all sat around the fire and started eating, but Melty just looked down at her plate for another minute before finally speaking up. "...Why?...Why does my father hate the shield hero so much? He was always so good to me and my sister. Ever since we were born." A few tears began to appear in Melty's eyes, as she found herself thinking back to all the time she'd spent with her father over the years. However, at the same time, she also had absolutely no reason to assume that we were lying to her, especially since her father refused to give her an answer every single time she tried asking him about his grudge against the shield hero.

Seeing this, and sensing Melty's emotions, Plum passed the blue haired girl a small piece of cloth, speaking to her in a gentle tone. "Here Melty. Please don't cry. And at least try to eat your dinner. You have to keep up your strength."

As soon as she heard Plum's voice, Melty looked up from her plate, sniffled once, then accepted the cloth from her. "...Thank you Plum. You're sweet." Melty proceeded to slowly dry her tears, then started eating her food, earning a smile from Plum.

After that, me and Roxanne decided to address Melty's most recent question. "Tell me something Melty. Did your father ever tell you that you used to have an aunt?" I asked her, putting the Three Heroes Church's pendant away in my bag for now.

Melty swallowed some of her dinner, then looked at me with some confusion, but still nodded at my question. "Yes, he did. She was his younger sister, and her name was Lucia, but that's all I know about her. Father told me that she was killed by demi-humans long before I was born, but he never told me anything more then that, so I don't know very much about her. What makes you ask about her?"

As soon as Melty finished speaking, me and my companions all looked at her with knowing facial expressions, which did well to confuse the young girl even more then she already was. "Is that what your father told you? That your aunt was killed by demi-humans? Your father is a liar Melty. That's not what happened at all. He may hate the shield hero and demi-humans because of events pertaining to his sister, but its his own fault she's gone." Roxanne answered the princess in a cold tone, once again demonstrating just how blunt she can be.

Roxanne's words caused Melty's shock and confusion levels to rise one more time, as me and Roxanne began to tell her the true story behind Aultcray's hatred, and the death of his sister. We hoped that this would finally drive the point home that king Aultcray is anything but a good person, and that some people are completely incapable of change.

Naturally, we started at the beginning, telling Melty about how Aultcray's sister Lucia fell in love with a hakuko, but Aultcray refused to accept their union, as well as peace between Melromarc and Siltvelt. So he sent a team of assassins to kill her beloved, but he survived, informed her, then the two ran away to Siltvelt together, which also happened to be the kingdom the previous shield hero was allied with. Lucia didn't want to leave her home and her family, but what her brother did was inexcusable, and he wasn't giving her a choice. As a result of this, Aultcray declared war on the entire kingdom of Siltvelt, causing massive loss of life for both kingdoms. And in the chaos of the battle, Aultcray killed the leader of the hakuko race, and Lucia lost her life as well, along with her husband. Even the previous shield hero lost his life during the war. We also told Melty about Sasha, and that we were currently on a mission to save her.

It took about thirty minutes or so, but our tale soon came to an end. And once it did, Melty looked more shocked then she'd even been in her entire life, as her mind started racing. Once again, she had absolutely no reason to doubt us, since once again, her father refused to tell her every detail on the matter whenever she asked him about it. Plus, having traveled to all the other kingdoms with her mother, she'd seen and heard more then a few things that back up our story. So, after slowly but surely realizing that our story was all true, Melty's current vision she had of her father began to crumble. "...Father...how could you?...How could you do so many awful things...and then lie about them to your own daughter?"

The three of us gave her a few minutes to process all of this, waiting for the young princess to finally stop questioning her father, who of course wasn't around. Once she finally stopped, I spoke up, using the most comforting, but still firm tone that I could muster. "I'm sure you would've learned the truth for yourself sooner or later Melty, but like the saying goes, the sooner the better. Anyway, do ya get it now? This is why its literally impossible for us to make peace with your father. As frustrating as it is, people like him don't change. They always have to have things their way, and they don't care how many lives they have to destroy in order to maintain their status quo."

"Lord Damian is right Melty. Your father hated the hand he was dealt in life back then, but he still refused to change himself even a little, so he chose to blame everyone but himself for all of his own problems. That bastard isn't a king at all. He's a child throwing a tantrum. A child who doesn't deserve to sit on a throne or give orders to anyone. Someone like him will eventually bring your entire kingdom to ruin. So much pain and suffering just to destroy the new shield hero, a kitsune, and a dragon. Your father isn't just evil and childish. He's pathetic. Simply pathetic." Roxanne added, but her tone had a little bit more anger in it then mine did. Even so, no one really blamed her for her anger by this point.

The more she listened to our words, the more Melty's mental image of her father deteriorated. At the same time, the harsh reality of her current situation finally sunk in, as Melty's entire body began to shake a little, and more tears flowed from her eyes. "...What...What am I supposed to do now?" The young princess asked in a sad, and rather hopeless tone, as she lowered her head once more, and more and more tears poured down her face and into her lap below. She then brought her hands to her face, and continued to speak in a quivering voice through her tears. "All my knights are after me, my own sister is likely behind it all, my father will more then likely never make peace with the shield hero, our world is coming apart at the seams...and my mother is weeks away in another kingdom...How will I ever face her like this?...I just cant...I don't know what to do..."

As soon as we all saw this, my, Roxanne's, and Plum's facial expressions all softened almost immediately. We didn't expect a positive reaction out of Melty, but none of us expected her reaction to be this bad. And as I watched her cry, just for a moment, a mental image of my sister crying when she was Melty's age appeared in my head. It really got to me, as I ended up doing something that I hadn't done for any human in years, and I never thought Id do again. I put my plate down, got up from my seat, walked over to Melty, and gently pulled her into a hug, rubbing the top of her head slowly, doing my very best to comfort her.

This caused Melty to stop crying right away, as she, Roxanne, and Plum all let out some small gasps, very surprised by my actions. Still, none of them objected, or even said a word, as the forest all around us fell completely silent in that moment.

That silence was soon brought to an end by me, as I kept Melty close, and spoke to her in the softest and most gentle tone of voice that I could muster. "Don't go thinking that this means I'm gonna make amends with the king, or open my heart up to the human race, because neither of those things will ever happen. However, I don't like seeing you cry Melty, so listen. We may not have all the details regarding our current situation, and we may not have known each other for very long, but I'm not gonna let you die. You have my word. Something that I haven't given to a human in a very, very long time."

Melty listened to my every word, slowly looking up at me, and sniffling a few times as she did. She then used the cloth that Plum gave her earlier to dry her tears once more, and gave me a response in her still rather weak voice. "...Thank you...but I don't understand. I thought you hated humans...so why are you willing to help me?"

I looked down at her, and decided to eliminate any confusion. "I do hate humans, but you're different Melty. And since we're being honest...you remind me of my little sister when she was your age. Honestly, its uncanny how alike you two are."

And just like that, it was Melty's turn to be surprised once again, as she never expected an answer like that from me of all people. Straight away, she started to wonder if there could really be a person that was almost exactly like her in another world, as she gave me a response after pondering that for about two minutes. "Oh, I see. In any case, I'm grateful for any help you're willing to offer me sir shield hero, but how will we proceed from here?"

Listening to her question, I let her go, walked back over to my log, and sat back down, taking some time to think of an answer. "We proceed as planned. We save Sasha, get the hell outta this kingdom, and head for Siltvelt. We'll take Melty there with us, and once we get there, we'll send a message to her mother, telling her where to pick her up. We don't know the queen very well, and I'm pretty sure the citizens of Siltvelt wont be very welcoming to a royal from Melromarc, but as long as you're with us Melty, you should be fine."

Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all listened to my idea, but Melty still seemed a little unsure about it. "That all sounds like a decent plan, but is it really our best option?"

"I know its not perfect, but going back to the capital is definitely out of the question. Your father might be an ass Melty, but I know he cares for his family. Probably a little too much. Plus, he's really not all that smart. That's enough proof to deduce that he's not behind any of this. More then likely, the one behind at least most of this is your sister Malty. You're the heir to the throne of the entire kingdom of Melromarc Melty, and its easy to see that that really pisses Malty off. I'm sure she'd love nothing more then to have you killed off so she can ascend to the throne herself, and then blame me and my companions for your death." I answered her, remembering how angry Malty got back when Melty broke up a fight she instigated between me and Motoyasu back in the capital not too long ago.

"What's more, Malty is just as dumb, if not even more dumb then her father. There's no way she came up with this plan by herself. She has to be getting help, and based on the pendant I stole from one of her knights, I'm guessing its the Three Heroes Church that's helping her out. They clearly have someone smart, and possibly dangerous among their ranks." Roxanne added, turning to face Melty, and speaking to her in a slightly more friendly tone. "I'm still not sure how I feel about you Melty, and I'm sure Sasha will try to kill you the moment she sees you, but if lord Damian is willing to protect you and give you a chance, then I guess I am too. Don't make me regret it, or Ill kill you myself."

"I'm pretty sure that wont happen Roxanne. Melty's emotions are completely genuine." Plum said with a smile on her face, then turned that smile over to Melty. "Naturally, if lord Damian and Roxanne are on board, then so am I. So please come with us Melty. Id be sad if you died too." With her emotion sensing abilities, Plum was a good judge of character, so in her eyes, Melty was indeed a good person who was worth protecting.

After listening to all of our words, and taking a few more minutes to think about it, Melty gave us a nod. Not that she had much of a choice in the matter. "Okay. Ill go with you." She was willing to put her trust in all of us, and she hoped that, in return, we'd be willing to put our trust in her as well.

Hearing her answer, Plum smiled, as me and Roxanne gave Melty some nods of our own. "Alright then. Everyone finish your dinner, then get some rest. Ill take the first watch, and we'll leave tomorrow before dawn." I said to everyone, then picked my plate back up, and resumed eating my dinner.

Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all did the same, then we all cleaned and put away the dishes when we were done. Then, before calling it a night, me and my companions did our usual nightly exercise routine, as Melty watched us, looking rather puzzled. The young princess had never seen adventurers, or anyone for that matter, gain strength through the means that we were using.

Once we were done, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all made themselves comfortable, and drifted off into sleep, while I sat by the fire with my guard up. Roxanne and Plum got to sleep quickly enough, but it took Melty significantly more time to get to sleep herself. Her entire world had turned upside down in such a short period of time, and she hoped from the bottom of her heart that it would all turn out okay in the end.

Like always, Roxanne took over for me after a few hours, and I thanked her for it once again, getting some sleep of my own. After sitting down and reigniting the fire with her fire magic, Roxanne looked to the path ahead of us, thinking about her dear sister Sasha once more. "Just one more day. We're almost there Sasha. Just hold on a little while longer."

X

About an hour before the first light of dawn appeared over the horizon, Roxanne woke the rest of us up, then we all packed up our makeshift camp right away. Before leaving, we made sure to put out the fire, and remove any and all other traces of our presence in the area as well. Once that was done, our journey resumed once more.

Unfortunately, before leaving our campsite, we noticed a huge wall that blocked off all the roads, and even cut through the forests, with knights constantly standing guard on it. As a result, we were forced to travel through the mountains. The only route with no walls or guards on it.

However, this quickly proved to be a minor inconvenience for us, thanks to Plum and her earth magic. With said earth magic, Plum was able to easily clear a path through the mountains for us, and return the path behind us back to normal after we passed. We were even able to bring our carriage along, which made the journey through the mountains even easier for us, and all the potions we had on board kept Plum's magic power from running out through it all.

During the ride, I held onto Plum's reins, Roxanne kept her senses peeled for any knights or adventurers that might be hiding close by, and Melty sat in the back of the carriage, still contemplating everything that we told her last night. Every so often, either me or Roxanne would glance at the young girl, and even though neither of us realized it right away, we really did hope that she'd be okay when this whole mess was over and done with, physically and emotionally. The two of us knew very well that this world was filled to the brim with corrupt and black hearted people, and despite how harsh we were last night, neither of us wanted to see Melty end up on that long list of people.

All the while, every last knight and adventurer in Melromarc continued to search high and low for us. Thankfully, none of them had managed to track us down, but King Aultcray ordered all of them to keep looking, knowing that if we made it outside his kingdom, his chances of finding and catching us would be zero, especially if we ended up in the kingdom of Siltvelt of all places. The king may have been a fool, but even he was still smart enough to know that, given his history with that particular kingdom, if anyone from Melromarc showed their faces anywhere near Siltvelt, they'd be killed on the spot. Apart from me and anyone with me of course.

After a little over twelve hours of non-stop traveling through the mountains of Melromarc, me and my girls decided to stop and take a break at the top of the most recent mountain we'd ascended. Me and Roxanne unhooked Plum from the carriage, then Plum made us a shelter out of earth and stone, which was perfectly camouflaged among the large rocks that were scattered across this particular mountain range.

All four of us found ourselves some rocks to sit on after that, making ourselves as comfortable as we could, while Roxanne and Plum once again kept their senses on high alert for any knights, adventurers, or monsters that might come anywhere near our makeshift shelter. From there, I pulled out our map and started to look it over, Roxanne made a fire with her magic and began to make us some lunch, Plum used this time to rest and recuperate, not that she was all that tired to begin with though. And Melty just sat silently, opening the locket that she wore around her neck, and looking down at the photo of her mother and father inside of it.

The blue haired princess once again found herself thinking back to all the time she'd spent with her father in her ten years of life, and began to wonder exactly how many times her father must've lied to her during all that time. Melty's thoughts eventually drew her attention back over to me and Roxanne, as she looked up from her locket, and decided to take a chance. "Sir shield hero, Roxanne, if you don't mind, there's something Id like to ask the both of you."

Hearing this, me and Roxanne looked up from our map and cooking, respectively, and turned to face the princess. After exchanging some glances with each other, it was I who responded to Melty's words. "We're listening."

Before asking us her question, Melty took a single deep breath, and braced herself, not entirely sure how we'd react to a question like this. "Why do the two hate humans so much? I know you've had more then a few disagreements with my father, my sister, and the other heroes, but that cant be all there is to it, right?"

Straight away, both me and Roxanne were a bit surprised that Melty just came right out and asked us that. Even Plum was rather surprised by this rather sudden turn of events, and wondered if we'd actually answer Melty's question, since Melty was a human herself. Not to mention royalty and all.

As soon as the surprise wore off, me and my dear kitsune moved closer to each other, and began to whisper to each other for a good five minutes. Once that was over and done with, the two of us separated, and turned back towards Melty. Neither of us were all that comfortable with it, but after everything that's transpired between us and the young princess, the two of us decided to share the stories of our hatred with her, still feeling kind of bad about making her cry last night, and the fact that she'd barely said a word to any of us since our journey together began.

"Okay, we'll tell you, but you're not to say a word about any of this to anyone. Understand? Its personal." Roxanne said to Melty after letting out a sigh, her tone a mildly threatening one.

This didn't faze Melty at all though, as she gave us a nod of confirmation. "I know it might not mean much to either of you, but you have my word. I wont breath a word of this to anyone. I promise."

The princess from Melromarc was right about one thing. The word of a human, especially a royal human, meant pretty much nothing to us. Never the less, we felt like Melty had earned at least this much. So, as Roxanne finished and started passing out lunch to everyone, story time began.

I went first, telling Melty every assorted detail behind my hatred for the human race. I told her about my childhood in my world of origin, about the death of my best friend Shawn, how I was bullied relentlessly and never felt accepted or understood for most of my life, and about my family and my years of depression. I even told her that I lost faith in God and long time ago, and now follow and serve my lord Lucifer.

Once I was finally done, it was Roxanne's turn. Just like me, she told Melty everything, and didn't leave anything out, no matter how hard it was for her to talk about. She told Melty about how her village was destroyed and she's lost her parents in the first wave of catastrophe, that she was captured and sold into slavery immediately after that, and she even told Melty the story of her adopted sister Sasha. As Roxanne talked about Sasha, she even went so far as to let Melty in on our plan to save her from the Melromarc nobleman known as Idol Rabier.

Plum had already heard all of this from us, so she wasn't too terribly fazed by it. But Melty, on the other hand, was shocked by my and Roxanne's backstories, forced to take a few minutes to process it all after we'd finished speaking.

This was the second huge shock that Melty had received within the space of 24 hours, so it didn't take her nearly as long to process this one. "...I'm...I'm so sorry. Really I am." Was all Melty could think to say to us at that moment, her facial expression and voice filled with sorrow.

Despite having to once more think about the most painful memories we had, both me and Roxanne remained calm and composed, as I gave Melty a response. "Thanks Melty, but don't be. You haven't done anything wrong. At least not yet."

That last part hurt Melty's feelings slightly, but she managed to maintain her composure as well. "Not yet? What does that mean? Do you really think all humans are like that?"

"When it comes right down to it, all humans are the same at their cores Melty. We might help them and do business with them when we need to, but that doesn't mean we trust them." Roxanne answered her, as she and I started eating our lunches by that point.

Plum had started eating her food too, and chose to stay silent for the time being. Still, she kept her emotion sensing abilities locked on me, Roxanne, and Melty the entire time, and as a result, her concern for all three of us was rising steadily.

Even after everything she'd heard and seen since she started traveling with us, Melty's spirit, as well as her convictions remained strong. Both of which were reflected in her tone and facial expression, as she spoke to me and Roxanne yet again. "You're wrong. I promise you, not all humans are bad. Granted, yes, some, like my sister, and maybe even my father are bad, but others would never bring harm to others, especially not in the ways that you two have been harmed in your lives. I know that I cant speak for all humans, but I can promise you that neither me, nor my mother would ever even think about bringing harm to any of you. Please believe me."

Naturally, neither me nor Roxanne believed her, and it was gonna take a lot more the word of one human royal to change our minds. We didn't need Plum's emotion sensing powers to know that Melty's feelings were genuine, but we still barely knew her or her mother, and the things we knew about her father and sister didn't exactly help the blue haired girl's case.

Even without her powers, Plum could still feel quite a bit of tension in the air, causing her concern to rise even higher. So, thinking as fast as she could, Plum turned towards Melty, and decided to try changing the subject. "Uhhh...Hey Melty, now that you mention it, we've never actually met your mother, and we don't know very much about her at all. What's she like?"

The sound of Plum's gentle voice instantly captured the attention of all of us, and made us all turn towards her right away. "There really isn't much to say. She's the queen of the kingdom of Melromarc, she loves filolials just as much as I do, and she desires nothing but peace with the other kingdoms. Also, being queen means that she's higher then father in the pecking order." Melty quickly switched gears, answering Plum in a more calm and composed manner.

Suddenly, and without any sort of warning, both me and Roxanne flinched out of nowhere. Then, about ten seconds after that, the two of us slowly erupted into a fit of laughter.

This surprised Plum and Melty instantly, and made them both turn towards us with very confused looks on their faces, as Plum tilt her head like she always did whenever she was confused. Just a minute ago, me and Roxanne were filled with strong feelings of hatred for humans, but now the two of us were laughing like Melty just said the funniest thing we'd ever heard in our entire lives.

"Ummm...I must've missed the joke. What exactly is so funny?" Melty finally asked us after listening to our non-stop laughter for a good five minutes, still extremely confused, and mildly offended by our sudden fit of laughter.

Meanwhile, Plum didn't say a word, and just continued to tilt her head in confusion, as she waited for me and Roxanne to calm down and answer Melty's question. Still, our scaly companion was happy and relieved to see that our emotions had become so positive so quickly.

After a few more minutes of laughter, me and my dear kitsune finally calmed down, taking a moment to catch our breath and wipe some tears from our eyes. "Let me get this straight. In Melromarc, the queen is more powerful then the king? Seriously?" I asked Melty with a smirk on my face, just wanting to make absolutely sure that me and Roxanne heard her right.

"Well, yes. Melromarc is a country based on matrilineal succession. I fail to see the humor in that though." Melty answered me, but was still mildly confused.

Hearing it again made me and Roxanne laugh a bit more, but not nearly as much as before. "Its funny because that means the king, the man who acts like he's so much better then everyone else, and has been using his so-called power to make our lives a living hell since the beginning of our adventure, married into the royal family. That's what's funny. And if ya ask me, it also further demonstrates just how pathetic your father really is Melty. Ill bet her never really loved your mother at all. That scumbag probably just married her so he could sit his vile ass on the throne, gain all the power and authority that went along with it, and use all that power and authority to destroy the lives of anyone he doesn't like." I responded to Melty, not even caring how blunt or harsh all of that must've sounded to the young princess.

"Not only that, but if your mother really agreed to marry someone like that, then either he tricked her into it, or your mother has terrible taste in men Melty." Roxanne added, her tone just as blunt and harsh as mine was, but she wasn't done just yet. "And if your mother really desires peace like you say she does, then she never would've left someone like your father in charge of her entire kingdom whenever she's away. Do the people of Siltvelt know that it was your mother's decision to put that bastard on the throne? Because I'm pretty sure they'd find all of this to be very interesting."

Our words made Melty let out a loud gasp, as she proceeded to raise her voice at us, much like she did last night. "Don't talk about mother like that! I never said she was perfect, but she always tries harder then anyone in this entire kingdom! And don't start doubting father's love for her either! Father loves his family more then anything! He-" At first, Melty sounded very sure of herself, but as she started talking about her father, she suddenly remembered everything that me and Roxanne told her about her father last night. As those memories raced through her head, the young girl hesitated before speaking up again, and when she did, nearly all the wind was taken out of her sails. "...At least...I think father does...Maybe..."

And just like that, nearly all the joy we got out of finding out the truth behind the king's royal status was gone, as me and my companions all saw how distraught and unsure Melty was about her father, and even her family as a whole. It was like last night all over again, and that really got to me and Roxanne. Melty had gotten under our skin once again, and no matter how much we tried to fight it, we both slowly came to the realization that some part of us did actually care about this human and her feelings.

However, this realization came to an abrupt end, as Roxanne's ears suddenly twitched, and she and Plum started sensing multiple living beings near the base of the mountain we were resting on. Not only that, but several seconds later, a flock of birds flew right passed our rocky resting point, like they'd just been spooked by something or someone close by.

Seeing all of this, I narrowed my eyes, starting to get a bad feeling. "As much as I prefer to savor Roxanne's cooking, it looks like we'd better move along girls. We'll take our lunch to go." I whispered to my companions and Melty, then the four of us stood back up, and proceeded to make our exit.

Melty used her water magic to put out the fire, Plum dismantled our stone shelter as quietly as she could, me and Roxanne hooked Plum back up to the carriage, the two of us and Melty climbed on board, I grabbed the reins, Plum once again used her earth magic to clear a path for us, then it was right back on the road for all of us. The four of us ate our lunches as we made our way down the mountain, moving away from the lifeforms that Roxanne and Plum were sensing as fast as we could. It was a little hard for Plum to pull the carriage, clear a path for us, and eat her food all at the same time though. So, after me and Roxanne finished eating, Roxanne took over the reins for me, and I climbed out onto Plum's back, feeding her myself to make things easier on her, much to Plum's gratitude and joy.

As enjoyable as it was to ride on Plum's back, I moved back into the carriage once all of her food was gone, sitting down next to Roxanne, and pulling out the map once again. According to said map, we were very close to Idol's territory by this point, but our enemies were slowly closing in on us. Prior to this, I didn't think it was possible for things to be looking up and down for us at the same time.

X

Before any of us knew it, day had turned into night, but we still had yet to reach the territory of Idol Rabier. Unfortunately, the knights and adventurers had spread throughout all of the mountains and forests in the area, and avoiding them put us behind schedule. Still, if nothing else, our efforts were paying off, as we head yet to be discovered by any of them, and we preferred to keep it that way.

Progress may have been slow, but were steadily making our way through the mountains. The knights did block off a few paths though, so we were forced to improvise. Once again, me and Roxanne were very grateful to have Plum with us, as our beloved dragon used her earth magic to dig some tunnels through the mountains, allowing us to avoid the knights completely. We had to make sure that Plum made the tunnels big enough for the carriage though, and we had to remind her to close the entrances and exits immediately after we entered and exited said tunnels.

Unfortunately, traveling underground did have its disadvantages as well. For one thing, it was a lot harder to read the map underground, and not just because it was dark. Roxanne's light magic made sure of that. There weren't any landmarks or other references at all underground, and all of us slowly began to worry that we might end up getting lost. Additionally, Roxanne's magic senses and Plum's emotion senses told us that the number of humans on the surface was growing more and more with every minute that went by, and the number of safe routes for us to take was shrinking.

It pained all of us to admit it, but we were boxed in, and running out of options. So, before going any further, the four of us took a moment to discuss our next move, and try to come up with some sort of plan. After a good, ten minute long strategy meeting, we all decided to take the path of least resistance. In short, Roxanne and Plum would sense which route had the least amount of humans on it, we'd surface there, fight our way passed them, then make a break for it before any more showed up. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was the best we could do at this time. Besides, me, Roxanne, and Plum were all positive that we could handle some human knights and adventurers without too much difficulty.

And so, with our plan set, Roxanne and Plum found us the safest path, then Plum proceeded to tunnel her way through the dirt and stone, taking us to it. With Plum's level of strength, it didn't take us very long to resurface, but once we did, we were met with a rather surprising sight. The route to Idol's territory that we'd chosen was at the bottom of a very steep cliff, with a large boulder at the top of the cliff beside us. Still, this wasn't much of a concern to us, since we all knew that Plum would simply use her earth magic to once again make us a safe path down the cliff.

The real concern, though minor, came mere seconds after we emerged from our underground tunnel, as one of the knights spotted us, and instantly called out to the rest of his forces. "There they are! Over here!"

Hearing this, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all turned away from the cliff right away, and saw an entire squad of knights surrounding us. We may have chosen the route with the least amount of humans on it, but there was still more then a few present on this particular route. Even so, it wasn't anything we couldn't handle, as me and Roxanne exited the carriage, and prepared ourselves for battle. I raised my shield, Roxanne unsheathed her sword, Plum glared and growled at our adversaries, but stayed hooked up to the carriage for now, and Melty stayed in the carriage, but kept her gaze locked on the scene that was playing out before her eyes, and wondered if there was anything she could do to help.

The young princess was more conflicted then she'd ever been at this moment, as she did her very best to stay strong and maintain a cool head. On one hand, she was no pushover in a fight, and knew that the knights were after her head too. But on the other hand, she never had to fight against people from her own kingdom before, or any humans for that matter.

However, what happened next made both me and Roxanne let out heavy sighs of frustration and annoyance, as three familiar faces stepped out into view, all of them glaring at us. As fate would have it, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki now stood before us. And much to our continued exasperation, they had Malty with them. Although, they didn't seem to have any of their respective party members with them at this time for some reason.

"RGH! You've gotta be kidding me!" I yelled out, my voice filled to the brim with irritation. However, this also had me rather confused, as I found myself raising an eyebrow at the three cardinal stooges and the crimson haired slut. _"Wait a minute, how is it possible that they've caught up with us? They were back in Melromarc when we first left a few days ago, and we only stopped to rest when we had to. We were way ahead of them, and I'm sure they had to stop and rest way more often then we had to. Also, how could they have known that we'd be here of all places?"_

All of my pondering was abruptly brought to an end when Itsuki suddenly stepped forward, and raised his voice at me and my party. "That's it! You've got nowhere left to run! We have you surrounded! Even you have to admit that! Cease your resistance, and release princess Melty at once!"

Clearly he'd forgotten that there's no such thing as a dead end for Plum, not that I was surprised, as I responded to Itsuki's words with a sarcastic and unimpressed tone, and used the same nickname that I gave him the last time I saw him. "Wow. Quite the original opening statements ya got there Hero Complex. How long did ya end up standing in front of a mirror and practicing that whole performance?"

Naturally, Itsuki glared at me, nothing liking my retort even one bit. However, Motoyasu ended up responding before he could, with his spear over his shoulder, and the same smug tone and facial expression me and my companions have come to expect from him. "If you're tryin to change the subject, then ya might as well just give it up Damian. The evidence against you and your party is undeniable."

"Please listen to me sir heroes! I'm perfectly fine, as you can all see! The shield hero and his companions kept watch over me, and made absolutely sure that I was safe!" Melty suddenly spoke up, trying her best to reason with the other heroes.

Sadly, but not surprising to me or my companions in the slightest, Melty's words ended up falling on deaf ears. "Wait a minute, this whole mess is happening because Damian and his party abducted you. We saw it with our own eyes." Ren suddenly chimed in, taking a step forward.

"This is all a big misunderstanding. You see, someone is after my life, and thanks to the shield hero and his companions, I have a fairly good idea of who that person is, and what their motives are. Believe me, I do hope that we're mistaken, but until I know that its safe for me to return home, I trust the shield hero and his companions to protect me." Melty's composure remained strong as she spoke, and her words ended up surprising both me and Roxanne a little. After everything that's been said during our three days of traveling together, the thought of Melty putting her complete trust in us had never once crossed either of our minds.

Unfortunately, the three cardinal stooges didn't seem to believe anything Melty said, as Ren responded to her words yet again, and shot me a glare of his own. "Damian, the self proclaimed demon lord who hates all humans is protecting you? Come on! He's gotta have some kind of ulterior motive in mind princess Melty. You cant trust him."

"Ren's right. In fact, if Damian was a member of my party, I definitely would've had him arrested or executed by now." Itsuki added, still glaring right at me after my earlier comment.

"If I was a member of your party, Id execute myself. Same goes for Spear-for-Brains and the Moron of the Round Table over there too." I said in a blunt tone of voice, not even three seconds after Itsuki finished speaking. I meant what I said, every word of it, but at the same time, I obviously had absolutely no plans to die any time soon.

The three cardinal stooges didn't care for what I had to say one bit, as they all started shooting me some rather intense glares. However, before any other rude or insulting things were said, Melty spoke up yet again, regaining everyone's attention instantly. "Forgive me for bringing this up at a time like this sir heroes, but based on what I've heard, the three of you are far from perfect yourselves." The young princess said to Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki in a firm tone, with a very disapproving look in her eyes, as she called to mind everything that me and my companions told her about the three incidents that the three cardinal stooges set into motion. The plant monsters, the dragon zombie, and the famine stricken town.

Still, Melty maintained her composure, and pushed those thoughts aside for now, as she continued speaking to the sword, spear, and bow heroes. "None of that matters right now though. The queen told me that this is the time for all of us to work together. Its the only way we'll be able to bring the waves of catastrophe to an end once and for all. Cant all of you see that our world cant withstand any more of these pointless, ridiculous conflicts?! Now put your weapons away, and lets talk this out! Please!"

Although me and Roxanne didn't agree with every word that came out of Melty's mouth, the two of us had absolutely no desire to waste anymore time dealing with the jackass festival before us, still wanting to get to Sasha sooner rather then later. As such, I took a deep breath, and decided to give Melty's peaceful resolution a try. But just for now. "Well, you heard the princess. We're obviously being set up. And not just me and my companions. Likely all of us here. And if I'm being honest, Id rather not be someone's plaything, nor do I wanna waste everyone's time fighting with you three right now. Now let us pass before I change my mind."

At first, it did look as though Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were beginning to have some second thoughts, but that all changed the moment a certain red haired bitch opened her big mouth. "I command you all not to listen to him! That lying devil possesses a brain washing shield! It allows him to take over your mind by simply talking to you! Its the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal!" Malty declared for all to hear with a completely straight face, as she pointed directly at me and my shield.

Needless to say, this shocked everyone right away, but of course, me, Roxanne, and Plum all knew that Malty was the only liar here. "Are you serious?! That's the lie you're going with now?! Are you really that desperate and stupid?! That has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my entire life! If lord Damian really had a shield like that, he definitely would've used it on all of you by now! And if you three cardinal idiots had any brains at all, you'd realize that!" Roxanne suddenly yelled out, glaring a very deadly glare straight at Malty right away, not at all pleased with her accusations.

Malty was completely unfazed by Roxanne's response, and maintained her own composure as she continued to throw her false accusations at me, and cast doubt on Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki. "The three heroes church has discovered that heretics who worship the devil of the shield have started popping up all over the kingdom in the past month!"

Hearing this, I started glaring at Malty too, already getting a pretty good idea of what, or in this case, who she was talking about. _"Could the three heroes church really have found out about Crimson Wrath so quickly? Tch. They might be more of a threat then I thought." _I thought to myself, hoping that the leader of my cult of followers had some sort of plan in mind if my thoughts turned out to be accurate.

"The shield hero calls himself the demon lord of the earth dragon, and goes around brainwashing the innocent people of Melromarc!" Malty continued to shout out her accusations for all to hear, her composure and tone never wavering for even a second.

All of this quickly caused Melty to look at her elder sister with great concern in her eyes, as her tone also changed to reflect her new facial expression. The blue haired princess almost couldn't believe the things her sister was saying, and just for a moment, she really did begin to believe that her sister was out for blood. Both mine and hers. "...Sister...you're mad." Was all Melty could think to say in her current state, as she also began to wonder if her elder sister was beyond any form of help.

Malty was once again unfazed, even by her own sister's words, as she turned her gaze towards her younger sister, and spoke to her in a kinder and more friendly tone, gaining a smile on her face to go along with it. "Melty, my dear little deranged creature, its obvious that devil of the shield has already brainwashed you too."

"Now I see. If that's the case, then that means Roxanne and Plum have probably been brainwashed by Damian too." Motoyasu declared with a smile of his own, once again thinking with his "spear" instead of his brain, and buying Malty's every word without so much as a first thought. And from the looks on Ren and Itsuki's faces, they too had just bought yet another load of crap from the crimson haired princess.

Motoyasu's words brought my and Roxanne's annoyance and frustration back with a vengeance, causing the two of us to let out yet another pair of heavy sighs, as Roxanne proceeded to glare and yell at Motoyasu and the other two cardinal stooges once more. "You're wrong! We love lord Damian! You cant fake love, but you three idiots and your psychotic princess wouldn't know anything about that, now would you?!"

"If I really had a power like that, Id take great pleasure in using it on all of you, and then watching you all kill yourselves or each other! But I guess when your levels get higher, you all get dumber too! Try thinking for yourselves once in a while! Don't be sheep!" I quickly added with the same glare and volume as Roxanne, then apologized to real sheep under my breath.

"That's not a guarantee that you cant brainwash people. Can you give us any real proof to convince us that you're not lying?" Ren asked me, doing well to maintain his usual calm and collected demeanor.

Before answering him, I took a single deep breath, calming myself back down a little. "Can Malty give us any real proof that she's not lying?" I chose to answer his question with a question, knowing that both sides of this argument were subject to the burden of proof. However, I also knew that if it came down to my word against Malty's, the three cardinal stooges would definitely take her word over mine. With that in mind, I was already mentally preparing myself for a fight, as well as a quick escape for me and my girls.

Just like I thought, Ren completely disregarded my counter question, and took a few more swords towards me, holding out his hand. "Damian, hand over the princess right now, and no one will get hurt. I give you my word that no harm will come to her."

As soon as she heard and saw this, Melty let out a small gasp, then quickly turned towards me, and wondered what my response would be. More then anything, she wanted the four cardinal heroes to get along and work together, but after everything she'd been through in the past three days, her instincts were practically screaming at her. Warning her that if she went with Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, Malty, and her knights, she'd be killed for sure.

As for me, I listened to everything Ren had to say, then gave him a response, but this response was met with some mixed reactions. "Your word? Tch. You should know by now that the word of a human means jack shit to me. Still, I suppose this princess has been far more trouble then she's been worth so far. If handing her over will help me and my party avoid a fight, then it might be a good idea for us to do just that. After all, Melty is a human too. Why should I care what happens to her?"

The first one to react to my words was Malty. She got another smile on her face, walked over to Ren, and proceeded to cozy up to him as she spoke. "You're absolutely right sir Ren. I'm so glad we all agree that Melty's safety comes first." She finished her statement by letting out a few giggles, as her actions made me and Roxanne physically sick to our stomachs.

The next one to react was Melty. She looked at me with wide eyes, letting out a more audible gasp. One filled with a mixture of shock and fear. She didn't leave the carriage, but she was still able to reach out and grab my cloak from behind, her hand shaking the entire time. And while this did surprise me a little, I kept my cool, not saying or doing anything more just yet.

Everyone else remained completely silent for the time being, as Malty moved away from Ren, and turned towards Melty once more. The elder princess then gave her younger sister another smile, held her hand out to her, and beckoned her to her side. "Now come here Melty. Lets all go home together."

However, Malty's actions and words had the opposite effect on Melty, as the blue haired princess gripped my cloak even tighter, with her hand still shaking. "...No...If I go with her...Ill be killed." Even Melty's voice was shaking, as the young girl tried her very best to remain strong, but it was a losing battle. Melty was scared. Very scared, and she knew that I was her only hope of surviving this ordeal.

"Come to me, my dearest little sister. Your big sister will make sure you get home safely." Malty took a single step forward and held out her arms, trying once again to convince Melty to come to her side.

Her actions, tone, and words didn't exactly scream safety and sisterly love to Melty, as she made absolutely no attempts to get anywhere near her big sister. Instead, stayed put, in my carriage, and on my side of the cliff, as she spoke to me once more in a shaky and frightened tone. "...Please sir shield hero...Please help me...I'm begging you."

At first, I didn't answer her, but I did do something that surprised and comforted her at the same time. Without a word, I slowly moved my hand over to Melty's, and gently grabbed hold of it. "I was too immature when I lost Shawn, and I was too lost in my own little world when I lost my younger siblings." I knew of course that my siblings back in my world of origin weren't dead, but with no way or desire to return to that world myself, it was basically the same thing. Still, though my words seemed bleak, my tone was the exact opposite at that moment. "You may not be my actual sister Melty, and I'm not sure we can call each other friends right now, but I don't care right now. I will not lose anyone else."

I spoke to not just Melty, but also Roxanne and Plum with very strong levels of confidence and determination in my voice. All three girls were a bit surprised by this, but that wore off quickly, as Roxanne and Plum began to smile at me, and Melty looked at me with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

I then let go of Melty's hand, and felt her let go of me too. After that, I faced the three cardinal stooges and their crimson haired witch once again, shooting them yet another glare. "Like I said, it'd be easy for me and my party to leave Melty with you, and save our own skins, but it wont stop there. King Aultcray started a war with Siltvelt, just to get his own sister back under his thumb. So it stands to reason that if Melty were to die, Malty were to ascend to the throne herself, and me and my companions were to leave this kingdom, Malty would do the same thing, just to see us dead. Frankly, I don't give a damn whether you three dipshits believe me or not. People like Aultcray and Malty will keep coming after people they don't like until one side is dead. So, if the red haired bitch has her sights set on us and Melty, then we may as well stand together against her, and all those allied with her."

My words caused Malty to start glaring at me right away, as the three cardinal stooges all looked at me like I was crazier then ever. "What exactly are you saying Damian?" Ren asked me, being the first one of the lot to regain his composure.

Rather then answer him, I glanced at Roxanne and Plum right away, giving them a nod. My two companions saw this, and instantly returned my nod, knowing very well what it meant.

Several seconds later, Malty somehow managed to recompose herself, getting her smug smile and tone back. "I have no idea what that despicable devil is talking about. He's clearly disturbed. Melty is my dear little sister, and I would never even dream of-"

"Oh shut the fuck up! Just the sound of your voice makes me wanna vomit!" I suddenly locked my gaze back onto Malty, and interrupted her, getting more and more annoyed with her with every word that came out of her mouth. "You can fool these three morons, and every single citizen in Melromarc, but ya cant fool us! The queen didn't pick you for the job of crowned princess, so what did you do?! You decided to kill your own sister! As an older sibling myself, that makes me sick! You're the worst of the worst Malty, and if ya ask me, the queen was absolutely right not to choose you! The very fact that she had another daughter is proof that she doesn't have any faith in you! That you're an embarrassment to her! And I cant say that I blame her!"

My sudden outburst instantly made Malty, Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and all their knights flinch, and take a few steps back. After that, I took a few deep breaths, calming back down once again, then glanced at Melty, speaking to her in a far gentler tone. "You might be a human Melty, but if you're anything like my sister, and I can see that you are, then you've got potential. It might just be the nostalgia talkin, but Ill gladly protect you and that potential of yours. Like I told Roxanne back when our adventure began, this world needs more people like us in it."

All of this did well to lift Melty's spirits, as all of her fear was erased in a single moment, and she looked up at me and smiled as a result. And just for a moment, to me at least, I saw my little sister Julie's smiling face.

_"Julie...Sis..." _I suddenly thought to myself, and ended up smiling back at Melty without realizing it at first. Sadly, this happy moment didn't last long, as I realized that it was time for me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty to beat a hasty retreat. So I put my game face back on, and called out to my scaly companion. "Plum, we're outta here!"

"As you wish lord Damian! Wall of Stone!" Plum responded to my command right away, stomping her foot on the ground, causing a huge wall of stone to rise up from the ground between us and our various adversaries. This did well to catch them all off guard, as Plum then turned towards the cliff, and stomped her foot on the ground again, starting to create a safe path down to the road below for us.

Unfortunately, Plum's spell didn't buy us as much time as we thought it would. "Meteor Slash!" Ren thought faster then the others, and with a single slash of his sword, he was able to cut right through Plum's Wall of Stone, creating an opening for his forces to pass through.

Then, making full use of that opening, Motoyasu ran straight for us, with his usual cocky grin spread across his face. "You're goin no where Damian! Take this!" The spear hero pulled what looked like an ankle bracelet out of his pocket, and threw it right at Plum while she was focused on making a new path for us. As soon as it hit her, the ankle bracelet locked around Plum's right ankle, and started to glow.

None of us were expecting anything like this, and what happened next surprised us even more. Several seconds after the ankle bracelet started glowing, Plum was forcibly changed into her lizardwoman form. Not only that, but most of her strength was gone. "Ah! What is this thing?! I cant get it off! And I cant change back into my dragon form either!" Plum yelled out, starting to panic a little, as she tried to get the ankle bracelet off. She shook her leg all around, and even tried slashing at it with her Dragon Nails, but it was no good.

Seeing this, me, Roxanne, and Melty all started to worry about Plum right away, knowing that she was definitely not used to situations like these. "Damn it. Try to relax Plum! We'll get it off of you as soon as we can! I promise!" I called out to my companion, trying to put her mind at ease, but getting the magic ankle bracelet off of her would unfortunately have to wait, as the three cardinal stooges, Malty, and their knights emerged from the opening that Ren made in Plum's Wall of Stone, and all of them began to close in on us.

Me and Roxanne glared at them all, with our weapons at the ready, and our wits about us. We may have been outnumbered, and Plum may have been temporarily out of commission, but like always, neither of us had any plans to give up, die, or let Malty win.

And speaking of Malty, she looked back at us with an even cockier grin then her hero had, as she used her magic to send a bright, flashing ball of light into the sky above. "I've just called for backup, so its already far too late for you to escape."

Me and my dear kitsune continued to glare at Malty and her gang of fools, as the two of us got ready to attack. But then, much to our surprise, someone else beat us to it.

"Zweit Aqua Slash!" Suddenly, and without any kind of warning, Melty jumped down from the carriage, held her hands out in front of her, and used her water magic to send a fairly powerful, and very sharp blade of water flying at her elder sister. However, being the kind hearted person that she was, Melty purposely missed her sister. Her spell was merely a warning shot, but it did end up leaving a small scar on the left side of Malty's face. "Leave now sister! I wont miss next time!"

Malty did not like this one bit, as she lightly touched the new scar on the side of her face, gasped, then started to glare a rather furious glare at her little sister. "Melty! You little shit! How dare you leave a scar on my beautiful face! Ill kill you!" Aiming her right hand at Melty, Malty used her own magic to shoot a fairly powerful fireball right back at her younger sister. But unlike Melty, Malty's aim was right on target.

Seeing this, Melty instantly gasped, closed her eyes, and raised her arms to try and defend herself. Fortunately for her, she didn't have to, as I quickly ran out in front of her, and blocked Malty's fireball with my shield, taking almost no damage from it. "Not while I'm here ya wont!" I yelled at Malty, then spoke to Melty in a more friendly tone, but kept my eyes locked on our enemies. "Ya know Melty, that water magic of yours isn't too shabby for a human." I paid the young princess a complement, then glanced at Roxanne, speaking to her next. "Roxanne, I know these guys are annoying as hell, and a plague on this world, but lets not kill any of them in front of Melty. However, with that in mind, feel free to injure them as much as you want."

Roxanne listened to my words, then gave me a nod. "Very well, but just this time lord Damian. For Melty." Roxanne was a bit frustrated and disappointed that she wouldn't get to kill Malty and her three cardinal stooges during this confrontation, but she had to admit, even she was starting to warm up to Melty herself. After that, she started yelling at Malty too, unable to resist the urge to insult her, especially after the crimson haired slut's most recent comment. That, and as we've learned from our previous encounters with this band of idiots, egging them on was a very effective way for us to get the drop on them. "Oh please! Beautiful is definitely overselling you, princess Slut! In fact, you're easily the most ugly creature I have ever seen in my entire life! Inside, and outside! If anything, that scar is an improvement!"

Roxanne's comments achieved her desired results right away, as Malty let out a loud gasp of shock, then slowly began to clench her fists and grit her teeth so hard that her entire body began to shake with pure rage. "UGLY?! That does it!" As her glare intensified, Malty raised her arms above her head, using even more of her magic power to create a fireball that was more then double the size of the last one.

Me and my party weren't the least bit surprised by any of this, but Melty, the three cardinal stooges, and the knights were all more then a little surprised by Malty's reaction. "Wait a minute Myne! Are you seriously trying to kill your sister Melty?!" Itsuki was the first one among them to question Malty's actions, as they all believed that Malty's irrational behavior was simply a result of her enraged state.

"I have to defend myself, since she attacked first! And the devil of the shield and his disgusting inhuman companions are all criminals anyway!" Malty answered Itsuki in a tone filled to the brim with rage, as she fired her next two spells at us, not sparing any power. "Now Zweit Hellfire, and Zweit Fire Arrow!"

Thinking fast, me, Roxanne, and Melty all moved over to Plum, and all three girls stayed behind me, as I once again used my shield to block both of Malty's attacks, resulting in little to no damage to myself. "HA! Is that all you've got?! I don't even need to switch shields for attacks like those! You're not just evil and ugly! You're weak!" I yelled at Malty with a grin on my face, egging her on even further.

As expected, my insults made Malty even angrier, but before she could strike at us again, Ren tried calling out to her himself. "What the hell are you doing Myne?! Don't let them get to you! Stop this now!"

Before saying or doing anything else, Malty pulled out an MP restoring potion, and proceeded to down the entire bottle in less then three seconds, her entire body giving off a glow as her MP was restored. She then tossed the empty bottle aside, and aimed her right hand at me, my companions, and Melty yet again. "To save Melty from that devil's brainwashing, she must die! They all must die!" The crimson haired princess really let loose after that, shooting a barrage of fire attributed magic attacks at our group.

However, as with all of her previous attacks, I blocked them all without even flinching, making sure that my girls, as well as our carriage remained safe. Still, we all knew that this was a waste of time, and that something had to be done if we were gonna get out of here sooner rather then later.

That's where Roxanne came in, as an idea came to her during Malty's psychotic barrage. My companion then leaned closer to me, and started whispering, more eager then any of us to get the hell out of here. "Lord Damian, can I go off on my own for a bit? Id like to try something."

I listened to Roxanne's request, then glanced at her, and gave her a single nod. "Sure Roxanne, but please be careful." I wasn't sure what Roxanne had in mind, but just like always, I had complete faith in her.

Roxanne smiled at me, returned my nod, then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Of course I will. Don't worry. This wont take long. Hide Mirage." She used her illusion magic to turn herself completely invisible, then silently moved away from us, and over to Malty's side of this cliffside bout.

Roxanne's kiss made me smile too, but only for a brief moment, as I turned back towards Malty, still blocking each and every one of her attacks with my shield, but began to speak to Melty at the same time. "Me and Roxanne can handle this Melty, but we cant get out of here without Plum. Think you can use your water magic to get that bracelet off her ankle?"

Even with all the fireballs coming at us, Melty heard me loud and clear, then took a moment to think before answering me. "Yes, I should be able to, but I'm not sure how long it'll take. I don't wish to harm Plum at all, and we don't know how strong that bracelet actually is."

"If you can do it, then do it. Me and Roxanne will buy you all the time you need. Besides, I'm about to bust out my Rage Shield, so Id prefer it if you took a few steps back and kept your distance from me for now." I informed Melty, already mentally preparing myself to equip my Rage Shield. I knew that it was probably overkill for this assortment of losers, but like the saying goes, go big or go home. And I sure as hell wasn't goin home.

Melty wasn't sure what my Rage Shield was, but she still nodded at me, then turned, and walked over to Plum. "Stay perfectly still Plum. Ill have that bracelet off of you as soon as I can." Melty said to my scaly companion with a kind and caring tone, and a comforting smile on her face, as she knelt down in front of her, and started using her water magic to try and cut through the ankle bracelet, being extremely careful not to cut Plum by mistake the entire time.

Plum listened to what Melty had to say, then nodded at the blue haired princess, and did exactly as she said, standing perfectly still, and hoping that she'd be able to get it off sooner rather then later. "Thank you Melty. I really appreciate it."

A few seconds later, Malty's barrage came to an end, giving me the opportunity I needed. "This farce has gone on long enough. Now come forth, Rage Shield!" At my command, the green gemstone in my shield turned red, and my upgrade tree covered my entire body from head to toe, as my power began to surge, lighting up the night with a brilliant flash of red.

The sudden lightshow forced nearly all of the humans in the area to shield their eyes, as they all tried their best to adjust to said lightshow, and hoped that it would end soon. At the same time, Malty, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all started to get a bad feeling inside, having seen this power of mine before, during the most recent wave. So they all knew what it was capable of.

"Damn it. He's really planning to use that shield? Is he trying to kill us all?" Ren questioned my motives out loud, raising his guard instantly, as he gripped the handle of his legendary sword.

All the while, the red light coming from my shield continued to shine brilliantly in the darkness of the night, as cursed flames enveloped my shield, and I shouted out a loud battle cry through it all. All of this really surprised Melty, since this was her first time seeing it, but she didn't let it distract her for long, refocusing her efforts on freeing Plum from Motoyasu's ankle bracelet almost immediately.

About the minute later, the light began to die down, and Malty glared at me yet again, shouting out a command for her knights. "Bring down the hammer of justice on the devil of the shield!"

At her command, all of her knights moved out in front of her, pulled out their bows and arrows, and took aim at me. "Fire now!" The knight's squad captain gave the order, and all the knights fired their arrows right at me with absolutely no hesitation.

A barrage of arrows came flying at me, but as with Malty's attacks, I didn't even flinch, as I used my Rage Shield to defend myself. The second the arrows made contact with my Rage Shield, they were all burnt to a crisp, dealing me zero damage. In fact, the arrows seemed to be making the flames of my Rage Shield grow in size and power. And unlike the last several times I used this shield, my mind was clear, and I was in complete control over it and the power that came with it. "Didn't even tickle. And by the way, I'm the demon lord of the shield." I taunted Malty and her knights some more, then corrected the title she gave me, and grinned at her and her knights through the flames of my shield.

As a result, Malty glared at me once more, then raised both of her hands up over her head. "Rgh! I don't give a damn what you call yourself! Just shut the hell up and die already!" Using every last ounce of magic power she had left, the crimson haired princess created a fairly large fireball over her head, significantly bigger then any she'd shot off earlier in this battle, and it continued to get larger by the second.

However, while the attention of Malty and her knights was totally focused on me, Roxanne made her move, suddenly appearing right behind Malty out of nowhere. "You really are your father's daughter, which is why I don't feel bad about doing this." Roxanne said to Malty in a cold and dark tone, with a look in her eyes to match. Then, before Malty had the chance to retort or scream, Roxanne swung her sword, and sliced the crimson haired princess' right arm clean off.

After that, Malty's giant fireball vanished completely, and silence fell over the entire area for about five seconds. No one could believe what had just happened, especially Malty, as she watched in complete and total shock and horror, as her severed arm hit the ground next to her and the pain suddenly hit her all at once. "MY ARM! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! MY ARM!" Malty screamed at the top of her lungs, having never been in nearly as much pain as she was in at this moment, as blood gushed from her right shoulder, where her arm used to be.

Roxanne displayed absolutely no concern for the bleeding princess, as she swung her sword to get all of the blood off of it. "Just remember, I could've taken your head, rather then your arm. A demi-human spared your miserable life. This time." Roxanne said to Malty, just as cold and dark as she was a moment ago, then quickly shot a single blue fireball down at Malty's severed arm, lighting it on fire, and ensuring that she wouldn't be able to reattach it. "Oops." The kitsune added in a cold and sarcastic tone, then used her Hide Mirage spell to disappear again, before anyone had the chance to try attacking her.

Despite the extreme pain she was in, Malty still heard every single word Roxanne said. She turned her head just in time to catch a glimpse of Roxanne just before she became invisible again, then gripped her bleeding shoulder, grit her teeth even harder then before, and looked far angrier then she'd ever been in her entire life. "...Damn you...DEMI-HUMAN!"

"MYNE! NO!" The first human to shake off the shock after seeing their princess' arm get sliced off was Motoyasu, as he looked at Malty with a mixture of shock and concern all over his face.

"We need healing magic over here now!" The knight's squad captain called out to the squad's healers, and they all rushed over, casting their strongest healing spells on Malty right away.

Melty was shocked by this too, but not nearly as much as the other humans in the area were. She knew that it would take more then a missing limb to kill her sister. Plus, Melty's current feelings towards her elder sister pretty much kept her from showing any concern for her at all, as she continued to focus on freeing Plum from Motoyasu's ankle bracelet. And much to Melty's surprise, she managed to cut through it with her water magic about twenty seconds later. She didn't know if it was because the bracelet was weaker then she thought it'd be, or if she was stronger then she thought she was, but all in all, she was just happy that she was able to help Plum. "Oh. It looks as though I've removed the bracelet from your ankle Plum."

Hearing this, Plum looked down at Melty, then her ankle, and got a big smile on her face. "Yay! I'm free! All my strength is back, and I can transform again!" Plum demonstrated this for all of us right away, transforming back into her dragon form. "Thanks Melty. Now then..." Plum gave Melty a grateful smile, but then lost that smile, as she turned to face Motoyasu, letting out an audible growl.

Of course, Motoyasu was extremely worried about Malty, but he still heard Plum's growl, which caused him to quickly flinch and sweat, as a very bad feeling slowly began to overtake him. The spear hero slowly turned towards Plum, looking right into her eyes from where he stood, as all the memories of their previous encounters ran through his mind, making his bad feeling even worse. "No! No! Please!" Motoyasu started to cower in fear, pleading with Plum to not do what he knew she was about to do.

Plum listened to his pleas for mercy, then smiled at him, and gave him her answer. "Not sorry, spear guy. I hope this hurts." The dragon said in a friendly tone, but then stomped her foot on the ground.

Seconds later, just like the previous two occasions when it happened, a large stone cylinder shot up from the ground directly below Motoyasu, striking him very hard right between his legs. Then, also just like the previous two occasions, the spear hero let out a loud scream of pure agony, as he went flying through the air, and hit the ground several feet away from the stone cylinder, putting his hands between his legs in very intense pain after that.

Ren, Itsuki, and many of the knights shivered when they witnessed Motoyasu's fate, but they all managed to compose themselves fairly quickly once it was over. "Go men! Annihilate the devil of the shield and his entire party!" With Malty down, the knight captain took command, drawing his sword, as pointing it right at me as he yelled out his first command.

At his command, almost all of the other knights drew their weapons too, and yelled out their loudest battle cries, as they all charged right at me. Although, I still had my Rage Shield equipped, and none of them had seen what it was capable of up close before.

"Wait! Don't!" Ren called out to the knights, as he and Itsuki attempted to stop them, knowing what'll happen if they strike at me and my Rage Shield carelessly. Unfortunately, the knights completely ignored the sword and bow heroes, continuing their charge.

This made me grin again, and laugh a little to myself. "Suit yourselves. Enjoy being burned alive by the flames of my hatred!" I only told my girls, and myself, to spare the lives of the bitchy princess, and the three cardinal stooges. Meaning that any and all knights were fair game. So as soon as they struck me or my shield with their weapons, a massive blast of red hot, cursed flames exploded from my shield, blowing the knights off their feet, and enveloping their bodies completely.

The explosion forced everyone who wasn't being burned alive to shield their eyes yet again, while all the knights that were on fire screamed in agony and tried desperately to put the flames out, but it was no use. Not even a minute later, all the knights that were on fire slowly stopped screaming and struggling, and just fell to the ground, dead.

By that point, the only ones left standing on Malty's side of the battlefield were Ren, Itsuki, and the healers that were still working hard to heal Malty. Motoyasu was still alive, but he was in far too much pain to even stand up, much less fight. Everyone else was dead, but backup was still on its way.

With that in mind, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty quickly refocused our efforts on escaping. I transformed my shield back into its normal form, and Roxanne reappeared at my side, then the two of us ran over to Plum, and hooked her back up to the carriage. The two of us then helped Melty back onto said carriage, climbed on board ourselves, then Roxanne grabbed the reins and called out to Plum. "Time to go Plum! You know what to do!"

Plum listened to Roxanne's words, then gave her a smile and a nod. "Hold on tight everyone!" Plum cautioned us, then turned back to the path she'd started making earlier, and stomped her foot on the ground again, finishing it. The dragon then ran down the path she'd created for us, pulling the carriage behind her, while me, Roxanne, and Melty held on tightly to what ever we could to maintain our balance. Once we all reached the road below safely, Plum stomped her foot on the ground once more, using her magic to destroy the path she made, as well as part of the road behind us, making it impossible for any of Malty's forces to follow us.

Once the dust had settled, Ren and Itsuki ran over to the edge of the cliff, or what ever was left of it, both of them still trying hard to process the events that had just taken place right before their eyes. "What the hell is going on here? How can Damian and his party be so strong?" Ren questioned out loud, then he and Itsuki looked down at me and my party from where they stood.

Meanwhile, down on the road below the cliff, Plum came to a stop, as me and my party took a moment to look back at the sword and bow heroes. Then, without saying a word, I flipped them off, making absolutely sure that they could see it.

This caused both of them to start glaring at me instantly, not liking this one bit, nor the fact that me and my party successfully escaped with princess Melty. "Rgh! You wont get away with this Damian! We'll find you, save princess Melty, and bring you and your party to justice!" Itsuki yelled at me as loud as he could, still as self-righteous as ever.

"Id like to see you idiots try, but for now, choke on this!" I yelled back at Itsuki, deciding that it would be pointless to try warning him and Ren about the Three Heroes Church, since they worship the three cardinal stooges, and there was no way they'd ever believe me anyway. So instead, I decided to give the two of them, and everyone else still up on the cliff, a parting gift, as I equipped my Dragon Zombie Shield, and aimed it up at them. "Deadly Zombie Breath!" I activated this shield's skill, and the shield fired a stream of deadly poisonous gas up at the cliff, identical to the poison breath attack that the dragon zombie fired at me, Roxanne, and Plum back when we fought it. The shield itself looked like a large knight's shield, but the same color as the dragon zombie's rotting flesh, with some bones around the edges, and a replica of the dragon zombie's head in the middle of the shield, with my shield's green gemstone imbedded in the middle of the dragon zombie's forehead.

This was yet another shock for Ren and Itsuki, as the poison gas quickly spread over the entire area on top of the cliff they stood on. The two of them, as well as Malty, Motoyasu, and the healers quickly found themselves stumbling around, gasping for breath, trying desperately to find a way out of the poison gas cloud, which was easier said then done for Malty and Motoyasu, given the sorry states they were in.

With my skill giving us all the cover we needed, I changed my shield back to normal once again, then Plum started moving down the road before us as fast as she could. Thankfully, Malty's earlier call for backup almost completely cleared out all the routes leading to Idol's territory of all the knights and adventurers that were guarding them, giving us the opportunity we needed to move on.

X

After another hour of traveling down the road to Idol's territory, we all decided to make a turn, head into the forest, and continue traveling through the trees, using them as cover. With most, if not all of the knights and adventurers responding to Malty's distress signal, it was perfectly safe for us to use this route. Still, just to be safe, Roxanne and Plum kept their senses on high alert, just like always.

Suddenly, Roxanne's ears twitched, and Plum let out a small gasp, coming to a complete stop, as she and Roxanne were sensing something. Noticing this right away, me and Melty moved to the front of the carriage, both of us wondering what was going on now.

At first, it seemed like nothing was there, but Roxanne and Plum were not convinced, keeping their eyes narrowed on the path in front of us. Seconds later, in the blink of an eye, a woman wearing a cloak and a mask appeared out of nowhere. She was down on her knees, and kept her head down as well, not saying or doing anything at all just yet.

Me and my companions were a bit surprised at first, having seen this woman once before. And apparently, so had Melty, as the blue haired princess smiled at the woman, and was quick to give us an explanation. "Don't worry. She's on our side. That's one of the Shadows. They're an espionage squad under the queen's direct control."

The three of us listened to Melty's explanation, then turned back to the Shadow before us, as she raised her head, looked at me, and started speaking. "Sir shield hero, I am relieved to see that you, your companions, and the princess are unharmed, I dare say."

"Dare say?" I asked, a bit confused at first, but then remembered the woman I cross paths with back at the castle who gave me the pendant of the Three Heroes Church. "You're that woman from before. You were trying to warn us about the Three Heroes Church."

"Yes, but please allow me to get straight to the point. Sir shield hero, you are hereby requested to meet with her majesty, the queen right away." The Shadow answered me, then passed along a request from the woman she served. "As I'm sure you're now aware, the roots of this commotion go deep. I dare say, we would appreciate all the help you can give. This abduction of princess Melty, as well as the events leading up to it were set up by those who find your accomplishments alarming."

"Yeah, we kinda figured all of that out already. The short version is this kingdom and its people hate the shield, Malty wants to sit her ass on the throne, so she and her knights are working together with the Three Heroes Church to try and kill us all. Does that about cover it?" I asked the Shadow in an unsurprised, yet firm tone, still finding humans to be incredibly easy to figure out. "Look, we've got our own plan, and someone waiting for us not far from here. And frankly, I'm still not sure if I can trust you or the queen at all just yet. So you can go back to your queen and tell her that Melty is in good hands with us, and that if she wants to talk, she can find us in Siltvelt."

"I urge you to reconsider sir shield hero. This kingdom wont survive without you. Please. I have no doubt that you'll understand the situation far better after you've met the queen, I dare say." The Shadow made one last attempt to persuade me, then vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving absolutely no trace of her presence behind.

After listening to what the Shadow had to say, and before moving on, we all decided to take another look at the map. So I pulled it out, and pointed out two different locations, as Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all listened to me and looked at the map too. "Okay, Sasha's here, and the queen is here. We're very close to Sasha right now, and she's in the same general direction as Siltvelt. However, the queen is in the opposite direction from Siltvelt. One thing's for sure though. We're saving Sasha before we do anything else. That alright with you Melty?" I already knew Roxanne and Plum were perfectly fine with that, but since Melty was still with us, I thought it best to at least ask her what her thoughts on the subject were.

All eyes fell on Melty after that, as the young princess took a moment to think, considering every variable before answering. She did really wanna get back to her mother, the queen, but she also knew how important saving Sasha was to Roxanne, and after everything we'd done for her in the past three days, she did feel like she owed us. "Well...I suppose mother will understand, as long as I stay safe and explain the situation next time I see her. Lets go save Sasha. We can talk more about what to do next once we're sure that she's safe and sound, sir shield hero."

Melty's answer made me, Roxanne, and Plum all smile at her, as I reached over, and gently rubbed the top of her head for about ten seconds. "Thanks Melty. Glad we're all in agreement on this. I don't really trust your mother all that much, but we'll make sure you get back to her safely, one way or another. Also, ya can stop calling me sir shield hero. Just Damian is fine. I mean, I call you Melty, and you call Roxanne and Plum by their names. Besides, like I've always said. I'm the demon lord Damian Abyss first, and the shield hero second."

Melty flinched as soon as I started rubbing the top of her head, as a small blush suddenly appeared on her face, and she brought her hands together in her lap as well, starting to nervously play with her fingers. "...I know that I'm young, but please don't treat me like a child. Also...I should be the one thanking you Damian. So thank you very much for everything." She used my name for the first time, slowly turning to me, and returning my smile.

The blue haired princess' attitude once again reminded me of my little sister, which made me laugh a bit, as I pulled my hand away from Melty's head. "Don't mention it Melty. Your rotten sister and the Three Heroes Church can pull any tricks they like, and throw every single knight and adventurer they've got at us. When all is said and done, we'll be the ones to come out on top. All of us. You, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Sasha."

Melty was very happy to hear all of that from me, as were Roxanne and Plum, still smiling themselves. "Well what are we still doing here then? Lets go! I cant wait to finally meet Sasha!" Plum exclaimed in a very happy and excited tone, eager for us to continue our trek to Idol's territory, even if we were kind of behind schedule by this point.

Roxanne nodded in full agreement, getting fairly excited herself. "Same here. I cant wait to see Sasha again. I've got so much to tell her, after we free her from that bastard Idol's control of course."

With that, Plum turned back to the path before us once again, Roxanne grabbed the reins, and I sat down next to her with the map in my hands, while Melty made herself comfortable in the back of our carriage. However, just before we started moving again, Roxanne lost her smile, as her ears and nose suddenly twitched, causing her to turn her gaze back to the path behind us. "Hey, do any of you smell that?" The albino kitsune asked the rest of us, as she continued to smell what she could only describe as burning wood, and lots of it.

Me, Plum, and Melty didn't notice it right away, but after taking a few good whiffs ourselves, we started to smell it too. After just a few seconds, we all drew the same conclusion, and we all had a pretty good idea of who was causing it as well.

And we were right. Back at the edge of the forest, knights and adventurers from Melromarc were setting fire to every last tree and bush they saw, creating a large forest fire that was spreading fast. All under the order of Malty of course. She and the three cardinal stooges managed to survive my Deadly Zombie Breath attack, but Malty was still missing her right arm. She didn't let that stop her though, as she ordered her forces to burn the whole forest down, hoping that it would kill every last living creature inside, which of course included all of us. The crimson haired princess was insane and out for blood before, but after everything that we had just done to her, she was more determined then ever to watch us burn.

**Plum: Yikes! That crimson haired princess really is crazy, not to mention mean, isn't she? I really hope there aren't any other dragons in that forest. I'm sure lord Damian, Roxanne, Melty, and I will be able to make it out of that forest safely though. Also, its so nice to see lord Damian and Roxanne getting along so well with a human. I really hope Melty will be able to do something about all that hatred they both have inside. I always hate seeing them get so angry.**

**Plum: In any case, it looks like this chapter is over. Will all of us really be able to make it out of this forest fire and save Sasha? What will become of Malty and the other three heroes? Is the Three Heroes Church really just after lord Damian and Melty? And where will we go after we save Sasha? To Siltvelt? Or to the queen?**

**Plum: I'm not really sure about any of that right now, but please wish all of us the best of luck as we move forward. I hope we'll get to see all of you, and some more new faces next time. Until then, goodbye for now everyone! Thanks again for everything! And please be sure to take good care of yourselves, and those close to you! I know I will!**


	16. Ch 15 - Sasha

**Greetings everyone! I hope you've all been well. I know I have been as of late. The new Fairy Tail video game comes out today, me and my brother just sold one Yu-Gi-Oh! card, and made $1200 from it, and as you can see, I've finished yet another chapter of The Demon Lord of the Shield! This chapter turned out to be longer then I thought it would be, but since when is that a bad thing? Am I right people?**

**Anyway, enough about my life. I know why you're all here, so Ill get right to the point. Please read on, enjoy, and maybe send me a review, fav, and/or follow as well. Of course, all of that is entirely up to you. I already really appreciate the fact that you've all stuck with me up to this point. Thanks so much everyone!**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters, locations, or events. I only own my OC's, Damian, Roxanne, Plum, Sasha, and more to come later on.**

Chapter 15 - Sasha

Lately, my life has felt like a gigantic seesaw. One minute, I was on top of the world, living my dreams, and just plain loving life. The next minute, I was forced to deal with the constant idiocy of a certain king, princess, and their precious cardinal heroes. And for the past three days of my life, all of that was more true then ever before. On the upside, me, Roxanne, and Plum had finally left Melromarc, we were on our way to rescue Sasha, and we'd found a new ally, and possible friend in Melty, the crowned princess of Melromarc. But, on the downside, Melty's elder sister Malty, and the Three Heroes Church have managed to convince the entire kingdom that me and my companions have kidnapped and brainwashed Melty.

So now, every single knight and adventurer is out to get us, and if they somehow manage to catch us, then we're all dead. However, catching us was proving to be easier said then done, despite the sheer advantage in numbers that Malty's forces had over ours. In the three days since this whole mess began, they were only able to corner us once, but once again, challenging us proved to be a big mistake. After a fairly short battle, me and my team were able to escape with our lives, but not before we slaughtered a fairly large number of knights, and did some real damage to Malty and Motoyasu. Both to their bodies, and their prides. Unfortunately, unlike the last several times we'd bested them, they refused to just give up, go home, and complain to everyone around them about it.

While me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty were getting an unexpected visit from one of the queen's Shadows, and discussing our next move, Malty, the three cardinal stooges, and almost every knight and adventurer in the area were setting fire to the forest we were in. Our previous confrontation in the mountains had quite literally left Malty left handed, and that seemed to really push the crimson haired princess over the edge. Even more so then usual.

"Fire! Fire! Fire! Keep on firing, and don't stop! Reduce them all to cinders!" Malty screamed her orders at the knights and adventurers in her employ as loud as she could, her tone filled to the brim with pure rage, as she gripped her right shoulder at the spot where her right arm used to be. Her healers had managed to stop the bleeding, but they lacked the power necessary to regenerate her arm.

At the crimson haired princess' command, every single knight and adventurer took aim, and fired into the already burning forest. All the mages in the group shot off their best fire magic spells, while those who preferred to fight with weapons, rather then magic, relied on bows and flaming arrows. As a result, fire rained down over the forest, and started spreading fast. Within minutes, nearly the entire forest had been lit up with the flames of Malty's rage.

Once that was done, Malty turned back to her knights, calming down only a little as she spoke to them. "As soon as the fire finally dies down, start searching for the charred corpses of the devil of the shield and his party. If they survived, start spreading the word around Melromarc that they were responsible for the fire themselves, then find them. As for me, I'm going to find a mage with magic power strong enough to regenerate lost limbs."

"As you wish princess. Your will shall be done." The captain of Malty's knight squad answered her, as he and the rest of the knights bowed before their psychotic princess.

With that, Malty turned again, and began her journey back to Melromarc's capital city, figuring that the Three Heroes Church probably had healers that were powerful enough to restore lost limbs. Naturally, Motoyasu was more then happy to escort her back to the capital himself, while Ren and Itsuki decided to go a different way, and all the knights and adventurers in the area once again carried out Malty's orders without question.

Unfortunately for all of them, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty managed to escape from the forest long before the flames ever reached us. The four of us had chosen to take a path with absolutely no foliage, and a river beside it to safety, knowing that the flames wouldn't spread down our path of choice. And once we were far enough away from the burning forest, we stopped, and took a moment to turn around and look back at it. Needless to say, none of us liked what we saw one bit.

"Damn them. Is there nothing these humans wont do?" Roxanne was the first one of us to speak up, her tone filled with quite a bit of her own anger, as she narrowed her gaze into a glare, and knew very well that this fire was the work of magic.

"I think we all know the answer to that Roxanne. This is definitely Malty's handy work. Who else would go this far just to try to kill four living beings?" I asked a rhetorical question of my own, and glared at the flames myself, as my tone and facial expression were almost exactly the same as Roxanne's.

All the while, Plum and Melty looked on in horror, knowing that the forest that was currently burning to the ground must've been home to a large number of monsters and other living creatures. "...I cant believe she'd-" Melty started to say, but then suddenly stopped, once again remembering everything that we told her about her father and elder sister. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she actually did believe that her sister would do something like this. The young princess just wasn't quite used to realizations like that just yet, but it was definitely sinking in.

After just one look at Plum and Melty's faces, my facial expression softened, as did my tone. "I'm sorry girls. I really wish there was something we could do about this, but we have to keep moving. There are still knights and adventurers all over the place, and Sasha is still waiting for us."

The dragon and the princess listened to my every word, gave it some quick thought, then they both nodded at me. The four of us then turned back to the path ahead of us, and kept going, bound for Idol Rabier's territory, with Plum pulling the carriage, Roxanne holding the reins, me reading the map, and Melty sitting in the back.

Unfortunately, all the time we'd spent dodging Malty's forces and traveling through the mountains had put us behind schedule. As a result, I realized that it would likely take us another day, or at least half a day, to reach Idol's territory, based on our current location on the map, as well as the sheer number of knights and adventurers that we had yet to cross paths with. Never the less, we'd come too far to turn back, or give up, so we had absolutely no intention of doing either.

After several more hours of traveling, the four of us had managed to find another forest to spend the night in. Like always, we all had some dinner, then me and my party did our nightly exercise routine. Just like the last several nights, Melty watched us with a fair amount of intrigue, then she, Roxanne, and Plum all turned in for the night, but not before I exchanged some loving kisses with my beloved kitsune and dragon of course. From there, I sat by our campfire and kept watch over our campsite for the first half of the night, until it was Roxanne's turn to take over for me, so I could get some rest too.

X

As soon as the following morning arrived, me, Plum, and Melty all woke up to the scent of the breakfast that Roxanne was cooking for us. Once she was done serving all of us, Roxanne used her Hide Mirage spell to sneak into the nearest village, and gather some more information that we could use. All the while, the rest of us ate our breakfast, waited for Roxanne to return, and once again hoped that she'd be okay on her own.

Sadly, the information that Roxanne ended up finding was anything but favorable to us. First of all, the forest fire from last night had reduced almost the entire forest to ash, and the knights were telling the villagers that we were the cause of it. Additionally, all the checkpoints leading in and out of Melromarc have been closed, and extra security has been placed all along the border, making it almost impossible for anyone or anything to get in or out of Melromarc without a fight.

Roxanne grit her teeth and started glaring as soon as she heard all of this, knowing that it would be that much harder for us to travel to Siltvelt after rescuing Sasha. However, the thing that really made her angry, and made her come very close to killing the villagers that she'd heard talking about all of this, was when she heard them refer to me as "the devil of the shield", just like Malty and her forces started doing last night.

Thankfully, after taking a few deep breaths, Roxanne was able to keep it together, and stuck around to gather information for about ten more minutes. Once that time was up, Roxanne decided that she had enough, and began her journey back to us with the information she'd collected.

By the time Roxanne arrived back at our campsite, the rest of us had finished eating, as well as cleaning the dishes and putting them away. Naturally, with her emotion sensing abilities, Plum was the first to notice Roxanne's return, turning towards the kitsune with a smile on her face as soon as she was visible again. "Welcome back Roxanne. Did you find anything out?"

Roxanne walked over to us, and nodded, but was unable to return Plum's smile, given what she'd found out. "I did, and frankly, I wish I had better news." In a frustrated tone, Roxanne explained to us everything that she heard the knights and villagers saying.

Me, Plum, and Melty all listened to her, then I started to get a little frustrated myself. "Oh sure. When it comes to fighting off a wave of catastrophe, the king of Melromarc and his army of knights take their sweet time. But when it comes to making things harder for us, they're able to mobilize their forces like that." I said in a sarcastic tone, snapping my fingers when I said that last part. I then let out a sigh, but maintained my composure. "Even so, the amount of security they have at the borders doesn't change the situation regarding Sasha. All the king and his knights know is that we're planning on heading to Siltvelt, but they don't know about our plans to rescue Sasha at all, so I think its safe to assume that security in and around Idol's territory is still more or less the same as it usually is."

"You're probably correct about that Damian, but tell me, what will we do after we rescue Sasha?" Melty asked me, seeing that we were running out of options, as well as places to hide.

After listening to Melty's question, I started to give it some thought, but even I was having a hard time coming up with an answer to our current dilemma. The way I saw it, we had two options after rescuing Sasha. One, fight our way to Siltvelt. Or two, fight our way to the queen. Either way, we'd end up having to fight, and I still wasn't sure whether I was willing to trust the queen or not. Still, after giving it a good five minutes of thought, I was able to come up with some kind of answer, or at least a method. "Girls, I think Sasha should be the one to decide our next course of action."

All three girls were quickly surprised by my response, as Plum proceeded to question me, looking for an explanation. "Not that I'm complaining, but why would we do that lord Damian? Sasha probably doesn't even know what's happening outside Idol's territory, and she definitely doesn't know us. Apart from Roxanne of course."

"That's exactly why I think Sasha should be the one to decide our next move Plum. Think about it. If we're able to save Sasha and get her to join the team, then we'll need to start building bonds of trust with her. She already knows and trusts Roxanne, but she doesn't know me or you at all, and based on what Roxanne has told us about her, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be too happy about joining a team that's already made all the big decisions for the near future without even asking her how she feels about them. Plus, Sasha's been with Idol, a Melromarc nobleman for years now, and based on what we've seen from the rest of the nobles and slave owners of this kingdom, I'm almost positive that Sasha will be in anything but a good mood when we meet her for the first time."

"Not only that, but Siltvelt is Sasha's home, and we all know that she has some very deep seeded negative emotions regarding Melromarc's royal family. Given our only two options for what to do after we find and save her, I'm sure Sasha will definitely have an opinion on which of them we should choose." I answered Plum's question, having given a great deal of thought to Sasha's feelings, even though I hadn't actually met her yet. Even so, I wanted to make a good first impression on Sasha, since she'd likely end up joining our party, and maybe even my harem further down the line.

Although my answer was a little long winded, it still made Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all smile at me. "I know Sasha, and I think you're absolutely right about all of that lord Damian. Thank you." Roxanne said to me in a grateful tone, then remembered something important, and turned her gaze over to Melty, as her tone and facial expression got a bit less friendly. "That reminds me. Melty, try to avoid saying anything, or getting too close to Sasha at first. Like lord Damian said, Sasha really hates Melromarc's royal family, especially after what your father did to her people during the war with her home kingdom of Siltvelt. If she sees you, and realizes who you are, she'll likely try to kill you. But she trusts me, so she'll believe me if I tell her that you're on our side. Understand?"

Melty turned towards Roxanne as soon as she heard her name, and listened carefully to the kitsune's every word. Even though it was clear that Roxanne still didn't fully trust the young princess, Melty still gave her a smile, a nod, and a bow of gratitude, happy that Roxanne was nice enough to give her a warning, especially since it showed that Roxanne did at least care for her a little bit. "Ill be sure to keep all of that in mind. Thank you very much for informing me ahead of time Roxanne."

"Don't mention it Melty." Roxanne replied to the blue haired girl, as she folded her arms, and turned away from her slightly, but still had a small smile present on her face.

All the while, Plum could sense the levels of friendship and trust rising slowly, but surely between me, Roxanne, and Melty, and that made the dragon very happy. "Well then, now that that's settled, shall we continue on our way? All this team building is very nice, but I'm sure it'll be even better once Sasha is actually with us."

Hearing this, we all turned towards Plum, and I gave her a smile and a nod before answering her. "Well said Plum. We've still got plenty of daylight left, so lets make the most of it. According to the map, there's only one more town between us and Idol's territory. So lets get goin. If there are no more surprises, we should be able to reach Idol's territory by sunset."

With that, the four of us decided not to waste any more time, and got right back on the road to Idol's territory. Of course, since we still had to remain hidden, there was no actual road, as we stayed hidden amongst the trees on our way to our destination.

X

After several more hours of traveling off road, we finally arrived in the final town before Idol's territory, making sure to remain hidden of course. Straight away, me, Roxanne, and Plum were all surprised by the sheer number of demi-humans we saw walking around, working in fields, and just living peaceful lives.

"There are so many demi-humans in this town, and it doesn't look like any of them are slaves. I didn't know there were any places like this in Melromarc aside from my old village." Roxanne was the first to comment on what we saw, remembering the life she had before the first wave of catastrophe, as mixture of nostalgia and sadness began to wash over her, causing her fox ears to go down as well.

Seeing this, I gently grabbed onto Roxanne's hand, which instantly made her turn towards me and give me a smile. Naturally, I returned her smile with one of my own, then turned my attention back to the source of my companion's current feelings. "I don't mean to sound bleak or anything, but this place seems a little too good to be true. Does the king know about this place? Because if he does, I'm sure he doesn't like it."

"I wonder..." As opposed to getting confused and surprised like the rest of us, Melty began to think long and hard about the sights before us, until a memory finally surfaced in her head. "Oh yes. That's right. I know the nobleman in charge of this town. He's a good man, so he might be willing to help us out." The blue haired girl informed us with a smile on her face, feeling very happy and relieved that we finally seemed to have some good luck on our side.

Me and my two companions turned towards the young princess, listened to her words, and while neither of us wanted to put a damper on Melty's good mood, both me and Roxanne were more then a little skeptical when we heard her say that a nobleman from Melromarc was a "good man" of all things. "Not that we don't trust your word Melty, but as I'm sure you know by now, we're gonna need more then that if we're gonna go anywhere near this guy right now. Besides, we're only a few more hours from Idol's territory. So why should we stop to talk to this guy?" I asked Melty in a tone that perfectly matched my and Roxanne's skepticism, and also reminded her once again of our distrust of humans.

Melty hadn't forgotten about that, and she definitely understood why me and Roxanne would be skeptical of a Melromarc nobleman. So she kept her cool, and gave us the best answer she could think of. "As you all know, most humans, especially those here in Melromarc, treat demi-humans like slaves. But in the past, some nobility encouraged peace and understanding between humans and demi-humans. The leader of that group was a wonderful man, as well as the lord of the domain of Seyaette. Sadly, after he died in the first wave, all the nobles that sided with him were banished under the king's orders to the most remote parts of the kingdom. And, as I'm sure you've deduced by now, the nobleman in charge of this town is one of those nobles."

As soon as she heard Melty bring up the domain of Seyaette, Roxanne's ears went down again. As it turned out, Roxanne's old village, Rurorona, was part of the domain of Seyaette. However, the kitsune didn't stay down for long, as she still had a hold on my hand.

And of course, I still had a hold on her hand too, and just for good measure, I also used my free hand to gently pet the top of Roxanne's head. I knew very well that her old village wasn't something that was easy for her to talk about, and finding out about this new information regarding the king made some of my anger slip out as well. "Tch. Figures. The king hates demi-humans, and even the humans that side with them."

"Because he's a scumbag. Always has been. Always will be." Roxanne added with a tone and facial expression of disgust, but my actions were able to keep her calm for the most part. "In any case, everything Melty's saying is true. I know, because Rurorona Village, my old home, was part of the Seyaette domain."

Melty didn't need Plum's emotion sensing powers to see how hard this topic was for Roxanne to talk about, so before saying anything else, the blue haired girl gave the kitsune a single apologetic bow, as her tone and facial expression both softened. "I'm so sorry Roxanne. I realize how difficult this must be for you. I also heard that after the first wave, the entire Seyaette domain was badly hit by rioters. If you don't mind my asking, is that...how you became a slave?"

Roxanne looked down at the young princess, and surprisingly didn't get mad at her at all, but I did feel her grip my hand a little tighter. Instead, Roxanne gave her a single nod, then proceeded to give her a response. "Yes. I could never forget that day. As if the wave's monsters killing my parents and destroying my home wasn't bad enough, Melromarc knights and adventurers stormed into what was left of my village. They took everything that was of any real value, and captured every single demi-human they saw, including me."

Even though Roxanne had told me all of this before, it still pained me to see her to upset. So, without even thinking about it, I let go of her hand, stopped petting her, and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a loving hug. "Don't go getting sad on me now Roxanne. You know that when your sad, I'm sad. I know going through all of that once wasn't easy, but me and Plum aren't goin anywhere, and with us around, nothing like that will ever happen to you again. I know you know that for sure."

Seeing this, Plum smiled at me and Roxanne, then changed into her lizardwoman form, freeing herself from the carriage. She then walked over to the two of us, and joined in on the hug, nuzzling the side of her face against Roxanne's head. "The same goes for me Roxanne. It always makes me sad whenever you or lord Damian is upset about anything. I might be clueless most of the time, but I can always tell when something is bothering either of you. And when that happens, Ill always come running, and do what ever I can to make you smile again."

Speaking of smiles, Roxanne got hers back as she listened to everything me and Plum had to say, then wrapped her arms around both of us too. "Lord Damian, Plum, I love you both so much. Meeting you two was the one good thing that came out of the first wave. Lord Damian, you saved me from being sold to an abusive human master. You might be a demon lord, but you'll always be my hero too, as well as the love of my life. And Plum, you're like the little sister I never had, even if you are more physically gifted then I am." The kitsune said to us in a soft, loving tone, then pulled away slightly, before moving back in to kiss my right cheek, and the right side of Plum's face immediately after.

Both me and Plum were very happy to hear such kind and loving words from Roxanne, as the two of us smiled at her, and happily returned her kisses. Of course, we didn't need Roxanne to tell us all of that. We knew.

All the while, Melty watched this touching scene between me and my companions unfold before her very eyes, and smiled herself, feeling very moved by how much the three of us obviously loved and cared for each other. Sadly, that smile didn't last long, as she once again remembered that her family was the cause of most, if not all of the suffering we've endured. Even so, the young princess wasn't about to let that keep her down, as she clenched her fist, and spoke with confidence and resolve in her voice. "Once again, I am so sorry everyone. As royalty, there must've been something I could've done to help you all before now, but instead, I've done nothing to help. But that all ends today. Once this mess is taken care of, I promise you, everyone who has ever wronged any of you will be brought to justice. The knights, the adventurers, the other three heroes, my sister, and even my father."

Hearing this, all three of us pulled away from each other, and turned to face Melty once again. A single smile and nod from Plum told me and Roxanne that the blue haired princess was very serious, and that made both of us smile at her, as she managed to gain even more of our trust. "Thank you Melty." Roxanne said to the princess, as her five tails swayed back and forth slowly.

Me and my companions were all very grateful that Melty was willing to go so far as to turn against her own family and side with us, but as nice as this moment was, we had another matter to deal with. So, after losing my smile in favor of a more serious facial expression, I quickly refocused all of us on the matter at hand. "Anyway, going back a few minutes, you said a nobleman whose in favor of peace between humans and demi-humans is in charge of this town, right Melty?"

Melty was very pleased with our reactions to her vow, then turned towards me, and gave me a nod. "Yes. That's correct. His name is Van Reichnott."

I listened to Melty's answer, made a quick mental note of the nobleman's name, then gave the princess a response. "I see. Everything you've told us about him is all fine and good, but that still doesn't prove that we can trust this guy. I mean, you thought your father was a good man, and look how that turned out."

The blue haired girl had to admit, that was a good point, but before any of us could say anything else, Roxanne and Plum both suddenly sensed the presence of someone new close by. The two of them quickly turned in the direction of the presence they were sensing, as me and Melty followed suit. Normally, the kitsune and the dragon would've sensed this presence sooner, but for some reason they were unable to sense it until it was practically right on top of us.

"You are indeed correct." A new voice said to us, or more specifically me, as the being the voice belonged to slowly approached us through the trees, stepping out into view. The being in question was a young, fairly well dressed man wearing glasses. He stopped a few yards away from us, and gave us a friendly smile.

Straight away, me and Roxanne narrowed our eyes at the man before us, and raised our guards. At the same time, Plum did no such things, not sensing any negative emotions coming from the man at all, and just tilted her head as she looked at the man in her usual confused manner.

However, Melty stepped forward without fear or concern, and gave the man a smile, speaking to him in a friendly tone. "Its been too long, hasn't it Reichnott?"

"Princess Melty. Its so good to see you again." The man was revealed to be the nobleman that Melty spoke of, as he returned Melty's smile and tone, and gave her a bow as well. The man then turned his attention over to me and my party, and officially introduced himself to us. "I am very pleased to meet you all. You may call me Van Reichnott. I am the current lord of this region."

Like always, me and Roxanne turned to Plum for confirmation that this man's emotions were pure, and our scaly companion did indeed give us the smile and nod that we were looking for. Still, I kept my eyes narrowed on Reichnott, and used my status screen to check out his stats. Straight away, I noticed something that surprised me a bit. _"So this is the guy Melty was talkin about. Nothing too impressive here stat-wise, but what's up with his stealth? Its incredibly high. No wonder Roxanne and Plum couldn't sense him right away. He's definitely a human, so how is this possible?" _I thought to myself, keeping my guard up, especially since I knew stealth was the perfect stat for an assassin.

Despite my suspicions, Reichnott just kept smiling at me and my companions, as he spoke to us once more. "Now then, this is no place for a chat. Why don't you all come over to the house? We can talk there."

After listening to his offer, I began to think it over, exchanging glances with my companions the entire time. I also took some time to talk it over with the two of them, and we eventually came to a decision. "Very well, but just so ya know, we're in a hurry. So we wont be staying long. And if you try anything funny, I swear you'll regret letting us into your home." I wasn't about to tell someone we'd only just met where we were going and why, but I did let him know that going against me and my companions was a bad idea in a very serious tone of voice. Truth be told, we only took him up on his offer because we wanted to get a closer look at his town, and make sure the demi-humans living in it weren't being mistreated in any way.

However, in spite of my words and tone, Reichnott's mood didn't change even a little. He remained unfazed, perfectly composed, and never lost his smile. "Very well. You're free to leave whenever you wish of course. And I assure you, you and your companions have nothing to worry about here. Please follow me." The nobleman gave me a bow, then raised his head again, and proceeded to lead us to his home.

Me and Roxanne still refused to drop our guards, but after Plum changed back into her dragon form, we hooked her back up to our carriage, and followed Reichnott's lead, making sure to take a good enough look at every demi-human we passed along the way. And of course, Melty knew very well why the two of us were suspicious of the nobleman, but she wasn't worried, because she also knew that Reichnott would never do anything bad to a demi-human, the shield hero, or any of the shield hero's companions.

X

Upon arriving at Reichnott's home, he gave us a place to put our carriage. So after parking said carriage, me, Roxanne, and Melty all disembarked. We then unhooked Plum from the carriage, Plum transformed back into her lizardwoman form, then all four of us followed Reichnott into his home. The nobleman lead us to his dining room, where we all sat down, and began to discuss current events.

We began by telling Reichnott everything that happened to us since we left Melromarc's capital city, but we were careful not to give out any information regarding Sasha or Idol Rabier, deciding that that was on a need to know basis. Since Idol's territory was so close by, we knew that it wouldn't be hard for Reichnott to send a message over to Idol and warn him about our arrival, if he saw fit to do so of course.

The nobleman listened to everything we had to say, then gave us his response. "I see. So you reached my domain after escaping Melromarc's forces. Is that about the gist of it?"

"Yeah, that's right. And in case it wasn't clear, we don't exactly trust you." I answered him in a blunt tone, not even trying to hide my distrust. If push came to shove, I knew me and my companions could pretty easily fight our way out of here and make a quick escape.

Reichnott's smile, as well as his calm and collected tone, remained strong though, displaying absolutely no contempt whatsoever. "Understandable. I've also heard from the knights that you were the one that started the wildfire in the mountains in order to cover your tracks, sir shield hero. Tell me, would you consider that account to be accurate?"

"Hell no! That's a total lie. I might be a demon lord, but I don't burn forests, animals, or monsters alive like that. I didn't actually see it, but I'm positive that that fire was started by that crimson haired bitch of a princess." I answered him in a rather annoyed tone, as my eyes narrowed into a glare.

"I thought so. In fact, when I stumbled upon your part in the woods, it was because I had been patrolling the area out of concern for princess Melty." Reichnott informed us, as Melty looked at him with gratitude on her face.

Just then, the doors to the dining room opened, and in walked a pair of maids, pushing in two carts with some trays of food on top of them. The maids soon came to a stop, picked up the plates of food, and placed them down in front of each of us at the table. Also, much to my and Roxanne's relief, the maids were both human. Just the thought of two young demi-human girls serving as a Melromarc nobleman's maids made us sick to our stomachs. Fortunately, that wore off quickly enough.

"In any case, you all must be exhausted from your travels. Please feel free to eat as much as you wish before resuming your journey." Reichnott spoke to us yet again, gesturing to the food his maids had brought in as he did.

Upon seeing the meal in front of her, Plum smiled, giving it a few good sniffs, then licking her lips. "Mmmm...It looks good, and smells even better."

"Hold it Plum. Don't eat any until I've tried it." I told my scaly companion, wanting to make sure that she and Roxanne were safe. Since my poison resistance was so high, I knew that nothing bad would happen if I ate the food in front of us, and my skill would also detect any drugs or poisonous substances in it.

However, before I got the chance to take a bite, Reichnott suddenly stood up, walked over to me, reached down, grabbed some food off of my plate, and ate it himself to demonstrate that it was safe to eat. "Absolutely exquisite." He commented on the food he just ate, not looking or sounding to be drugged or poisoned at all. "Please rest assured, the food isn't poisoned."

Seeing this, I narrowed my eyes at the nobleman, still not convinced. Id seen scenarios like this on TV before, back in my world of origin. A man invites guests into his home, sits them down to a nice meal, and tries it himself first to assure the guests that its safe, but then it turns out that the food really was poisoned all along, and the only reason it didn't effect the man is because he had the antidote in his pocket, ready to go.

With that in mind, I turned my gaze back to the meal in front of me, and proceeded to try a little bit of everything, just to be sure. One by one, my status screen informed me that each dish was toxin free. So, after swallowing down my most recent bite of food, I turned back to my companions, and gave them a nod. "Its safe, but Roxanne's cooking is better."

As soon as she heard that, Roxanne got a very proud smile on her face, feeling a mixture of flattery and pride, as her tails slowly swayed back and forth once again. "Why, thank you lord Damian."

"I hate to point this out, but that was actually quite rude of you to say out loud Damian. Even if its true, you shouldn't say things like that about Reichnott's gracious hospitality. I suppose rude comments are okay when they're directed at someone whose wronged you. Such as my sister, or the other heroes, but Reichnott has been nothing but kind to us since we arrived, and he's been very good to me and my mother over the years. So could you please at least try to make an effort to get along with him? You too Roxanne? For me?" Roxanne might've enjoyed my comment, but Melty didn't seem to, as she started speaking to me and Roxanne in a pleading tone, with a facial expression to match.

Me and Roxanne looked at the princess, and listened to her words, as they caused Roxanne to lose her smile. The two of us gave it some thought, and we had to admit, Reichnott definitely didn't seem like a bad guy. Plum gave him and his emotions her seal of approval, the demi-humans living in his town didn't seem to be getting mistreated at all, and although it wasn't as good as Roxanne's cooking, he did have his maids make lunch for us. So, even though we had already done a lot for Melty, we both decided that we were at least willing to do this for her as well.

"Very well Melty, but only because you promised to bring everyone who ever gave us crap to justice. Still, don't forget that we're not saying long. We have someone waiting for us." I answered Melty is a more respectful tone, but still refused to give Reichnott any information regarding our current objective.

"That's right. So, as much as Id love to stay and chat with the demi-humans of this town, Id appreciate it if we could all avoid getting sidetracked while we're here." Roxanne added, with her tone getting more respectful as well.

Our answers were still good enough for the blue haired princess though, as she smiled at us, and picked up her fork and knife. "Thank you both very much. Now that that's settled, lets try to enjoy our meal, shall we?" Melty was about to start eating, but then she remembered something, and turned to face Plum. "Oh, and Plum, remember what we talked about. Try using your silver wear when you eat this time, okay?"

Plum turned to face Melty as soon as she heard her name being called, then did her best to recall the several lessons on dining etiquette the princess gave her during our last several meals together. "Well, okay Melty. Ill try." Plum was far more used to eating with her bare claws, or just simply using her mouth, but like always, she wanted to try her best for someone she cares for. So, in her lizardwoman form, she picked up her own fork and knife, and tried to cut some of the food on her plate, and then eat it. However, thanks to her great physical strength, she ended up cutting right through her plate with her knife, and bit all four tines right off of her fork, chewing and swallowing them down with her food without even noticing. "So, how was that?" Plum asked all of us, once again demonstrating that ignorance really was bliss.

Seeing this, me and Roxanne started laughing a little, both of us doing our best to hold it in. "...Plum...I've said it before, and Ill say it again...I love you so much..." I answered my scaly companion in between my chuckles, knowing that her emotion sensing abilities would tell her that me and Roxanne were definitely not laughing at her, but instead found her antics to be very entertaining and uplifting.

Plum did indeed sense those things from me and Roxanne, and proceeded to smile at us. However, at the same time, she also tilted her head in her usual confused state, not sure what she did that we found so amusing.

Meanwhile, Plum's antics caught Melty by surprise for a moment, as she looked at Plum with a pair of wide eyes. Once that wore off, the young princess simply lowered her head, and let out a sigh, feeling like she had just tried to climb a mountain on her own, but was forced to turn back halfway. Still, she was also unable to help giggling a little herself, glancing at Plum as she did.

Even Reichnott found himself laughing a bit too, before turning to face Melty once more. "If you'll allow me to say so princess Melty, it appears you've grown. In the past, you always forced yourself to maintain a more mature attitude around others, but it seems traveling with the shield hero and his companions has helped you to grow. And I mean that in a good way of course."

The nobleman's words instantly caused Melty to flinch, as her eyes went wide again. The princess also started blushing, nearly dropped her silver wear, and fell completely silent for the next thirty seconds.

The second me and Roxanne saw Melty's reaction, we knew right away what it meant. Plum tried to understand what was going on with the princess, using her emotion sensing abilities on her, but just ended up sensing a whole mess of complex emotions, which ended up confusing her even more then she already was.

However, since I was in a good mood, rather then shoot Melty down, I smirked at her, and decided to tease her a little bit. "Woah there. Easy kid. Not sure exactly what kind of thoughts are runnin through your mind right now, but I like my girls full grown, and usually with tails."

My words snapped Melty out of the trance she was in, and made her blush grow in size, covering even more of her face. The princess started glaring at me after that, raising her voice as well. "What?! You keep quiet, you! Whatever you're thinking, its not like that at all!"

The princess' reaction quickly caused me and Roxanne to start laughing out loud, unable to contain ourselves anymore. Plum still didn't really understand what was going on, but she could still easily sense a great deal of humor coming from me and Roxanne, so she started laughing a little herself. Even Reichnott chuckled a little to himself as well, finding all of this to be very amusing, and completely unlike any visitors he'd had in his home before.

All of our laughter quickly caused Melty's entire face to turn red, as she grit her teeth and clenched her fists tightly, before shouting at us. "All of you stop laughing right now, or Ill get mad! I mean it!"

The laughter continued for about five more minutes, as me and my companions took a moment to catch our breath. Once that was done, we all apologized to Melty, and assured her that we were just messing with her.

The princess then took a moment to calm herself down as well, but a little of her blush remained, and she couldn't help pouting at us a little bit. Never the less, she forgave us, then we all finally started to eat our lunches.

X

Once we were all done eating, Reichnott offered us a room for the night, but since we still had plenty of daylight left, we turned him down. We were all eager to keep going, and make it to Sasha sooner rather then later, but we still thanked the nobleman for the offer, as well as the meal.

After that, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all headed back to the carriage, which Reichnott was nice enough to let us hide in the shed beside his manor. The four of us started getting ready to leave, but then Melty asked if she could go play with Plum in Reichnott's garden for a little bit.

Naturally, Plum was all for it right away, and after a quick discussion, me and Roxanne agreed to give them some time to have some fun, and told them to come right back to the carriage once the time we gave them was up. The two of us hadn't forgotten that although Plum was the tallest, strongest, and most well endowed member of our group, she was also the youngest, and technically still a child. We both knew that it was good for her to spend some time having fun, and just enjoying life.

Plum and Melty both smiled at us when they heard our response, thanking us, and then heading off into Reichnott's garden for some fun and games. Me and Roxanne smiled too, as we watched them head off, happy to see Plum having fun, in spite of everything we've been through, and everything that's happening to us now.

The two of us decided to stay with the carriage until the dragon and the princess returned, as we did our best to relax, but that was easier said then done. We also hadn't forgotten that every knight and adventurer in the kingdom was looking for us, so we made sure to stay alert and on guard at all times.

"Its only a matter of time until the king's forces come looking for us here too. This place isn't far from where we fought Malty and the three cardinal stooges, and its a town where demi-humans live decent lives. I'm sure they'll come looking for us here sooner, rather then later." I said to my companion, looking out the window of the shed.

"Yeah. Without a doubt. But while we have the time, can I talk to you about something lord Damian?" Roxanne asked me, starting to sound a little nervous for some reason.

Hearing this, I turned towards her right away, and wondered where this sudden nervousness of hers was coming from. "Of course Roxanne. What's up?"

My dear kitsune looked back at me, and began her explanation, looking and sounding nervous and unsure the entire time. "Well, now that we're so close to saving Sasha, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not having second thoughts or anything. Its just...me and Sasha haven't seen each other in years. What if, when we get to her, she doesn't even recognize me anymore? Or she hates me now for not being able to save her sooner?"

Like always, I listened to everything Roxanne had to say, then smiled at her, as I moved closer to her, and gently placed my right hand on her left shoulder. "Ya haven't seen your long lost friend, and sister, in a long time Roxanne. Of course you're at least a little nervous about this. Anyone would be. But since you asked, I really don't think ya have anything to worry about. First of all, you two were just kids when Sasha was taken and sold into slavery. You've done a lot of growing since then Roxanne. Both physically, and as a person. The same is probably true for her too, so its only natural that you two might not recognize each other at first."

"And secondly, don't ever think like that. I know I haven't met her yet, but based on what you've told me about her, I'm sure there's no way Sasha could ever hate you Roxanne. Granted, her time serving as a slave to his noble jackass has likely been anything but easy, but I'm sure that she of all people knows that getting strong enough to pull off a rescue like this, especially in a kingdom so determined to keep any and all demi-humans from realizing their true potentials, takes time. I know that I cant speak for Sasha, but I'm confident that she never lost hope, and is still waiting for you to come and save her as we speak." I said to Roxanne in a comforting and confident tone, doing my best to reassure her that everything would work out in the end.

And just like that, Roxanne's nervousness vanished instantly, as she smiled right back at me, and took a single deep breath before responding to my words, just to make it official. "I needed that. Thanks lord Damian. You always know just what to say."

As always, I was more then happy to help out one of my companions when they needed it. I then removed my hand from Roxanne's shoulder, and gave her my response. "Don't mention it Roxanne. You know we've always got each other's backs. Just be yourself when we get to Sasha and I'm sure she'll be overjoyed to see you again, more then anything else. Of course, we'll have to do something about the slave crest I'm sure Idol currently has on her."

Roxanne gave me a nod, and started to sound more serious after that. " You're right lord Damian. And as I'm sure you know, there are only two ways to remove a slave crest."

I nodded right back at Roxanne, taking on a more serious tone and facial expression as well. "Either get the master to let the slave go willingly, or kill the master. Based on what we've heard about this Idol guy, we'll probably have to go with the latter."

"If you don't mind lord Damian, Id like to be the one to kill this bastard, and free Sasha from his grasp. She's my sister, so this has been a long time coming anyway." Roxanne said to me with a rather dark look in her eye, looking and sounding more serious then she'd ever been in her entire life.

Even so, Roxanne's attitude didn't faze me even a little, as I got my smile back, and gave my companion one more nod. "He's all yours Roxanne. And no matter how cruel he's been to Sasha over the years, I'm sure I can fix her up with my healing magic. Some medicine and food probably wouldn't hurt either. I can only imagine what he's been feeding her all this time. And who knows? Maybe after she's all healed up, had some time to catch up with you, and spent some time getting to know me and Plum, me and her could talk about the possibility of her joining my harem."

As soon as she heard this, Roxanne's demeanor completely changed. She went from totally serious, to smiling, and even giggling a little too. "Lord Damian, are you seriously already thinking about adding my sister to your harem?"

Roxanne's question made me let out a few chuckles of my own, as a small blush appeared on my face, as I was unable to hold either in. "Well, she's probably gonna join our party after we save her anyway, and it might be kinda weird if she's the only one not in the harem, ya know? And yes, I know that we haven't actually met yet, and I'm probably getting ahead of myself. I'm just so excited! In every photo of Byakko, the white tiger of the west, I've seen back in my world, he's always breathtaking. And now, I'm so close to meeting the legend in the flesh, and I just know the real deal will be way better then any photo."

All of my excitement and rambling made Roxanne giggle even more, as she started blushing a little bit too, and playfully shoved my left shoulder with her right hand to make me stop. "Take it easy lord Damian. Try to relax. You're right about one thing. Sasha is breathtaking. She's beautiful, strong, and has a great heart. And that was back when we were just kids. Even if Idol has roughed her up over the years, I'm sure all of that is still true. I know it. I also know that you and Sasha will get along great, and not just because you're the shield hero."

I stumbled backwards a little when Roxanne playfully shoved me, and let out a few more chuckles before responding. "Now I think I needed that. Thanks Roxanne. I know you and Sasha might not be related by blood, but if she's anything like you, then I'm sure you're absolutely right."

"I know you don't need me to tell you this, but you, Sasha, and Plum are easily the three people that I love most in this, or any other world. So Id love it very much if we could all get along, and grow closer and stronger together. I'm not exactly sure how Sasha will feel about joining a harem, but I do know one thing for sure." Roxanne looked straight into my eyes, got a playful smirk on her face, and proceeded to tease me a little. "Its actually really cute when you get all excited like that lord Damian."

Straight away, my blush expanded, but I maintained my composure, got a smirk of my own, and quickly turned the tables on Roxanne. "Yeah, and you're really cute whenever I do this Roxanne." Without warning, I quickly reached behind Roxanne, grabbed one of her tails, and gave it a few light squeezes.

As soon as I did this, Roxanne let out a quick gasp, as her blush expanded in the same way that mine did. As the two of us had established, her tails were very sensitive, but she only seemed to react this way when I was the one touching them.

I let go of her tail after about ten seconds, then she glared at me for a moment. Seconds later, we both ended up laughing a bit more, and then sharing a minute long kiss. Once we were separated, it was back to waiting for Plum and Melty to return, and staying alert for the two of us, but we did so with smiles on our faces.

X

Meanwhile, Plum and Melty had arrived in Reichnott's garden, and straight away, Plum took a moment to admire the many different colors and varieties of flowers the nobleman had growing there. After giving several flowers a few good sniffs, Plum smiled, and turned back towards Melty. "So, what do you wanna do first Melty?"

Suddenly, Melty lost her smile, let out a big sigh, and gave the dragon a single bow. "I apologize for doing it this way Plum, but the truth is, I actually wanted to speak to you in private about something. Between Damian, Roxanne, and yourself, you're the easiest to talk to for sure. So, if you don't mind, could I talk to you about something kind of personal for the next several minutes Plum? After that, Ill show you some really fun games that we can play together. I promise."

Plum was a bit surprised by this at first, but quickly smiled at the young princess again. "Sure Melty. I don't mind at all. To be honest, I've been sensing that something's been bothering you this entire time. I don't know how much help Ill be, but Ill still listen and offer you the best advice I can. So what's wrong Melty?"

The blue haired princess raised her head, listened to Plum's response, then the two of them walked over to a nearby bench and sat down on it before Melty gave Plum an answer. "Its kind of complicated. Even I cant really put it into words, but I think I've been acting really...different since meeting Damian. Even my speech has become more crude as of late. Before meeting Damian, I truly looked up to, and admired my mother and father, but now, I've sworn to bring my father to justice. I feel like a different person, and I'm not sure how to feel about her." Melty did her best to explain her feelings to Plum, with more then a little uncertainty in her voice, and all over her face.

The dragon listened to the princess' every word, using her emotion sensing abilities the entire time to try and make sense of it all, but she just ended up tilting her head in her usual confused fashion. "Hmmm...Well, I was born with lord Damian and Roxanne, so I don't really know any other way to be."

Plum's reaction made Melty start to giggle a bit, as the young girl's smile returned to her face. "Its okay Plum. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to confuse you. Its fine if you don't understand what I'm trying to say. Like I said, I barely understand it myself. I just needed someone to talk to. That's all."

"I may have trouble understanding most things in this world Melty, but if there's one thing I do know, its who my friends and loved ones are. Lord Damian, Roxanne, and you too Melty." Plum gave Melty yet another smile, speaking to her in the friendliest tone she could muster. "I also know that you like lord Damian. Your emotions for him are crystal clear to me."

Those last few words from Plum caused Melty to let out a small gasp, then quickly look down in embarrassment, as a small blush appeared on her face. "...Oh really? I guess there's no use trying to deny it then. Not with your abilities."

Plum continued to smile at the human girl, starting to gently rub the top of her head to try and calm her down. "Don't worry Melty. I'm pretty sure lord Damian already knows how you feel about him. His feelings for you aren't as strong as your feelings for him though, so maybe it would help if you gave him a kiss or something."

"What?!...B-But...there's no way I can do that!" Melty suddenly yelled out, turning back towards Plum, as her eyes grew wide, and her blush covered more of her face.

Straight away, the princess' reaction caused Plum's confusion to return, as she tilted her head at the blue haired girl before responding. "Why not? It always makes me and Roxanne happy when lord Damian kisses us, and it always makes lord Damian happy whenever we kiss him too."

As one might expect, Plum's words didn't help Melty very much at that moment. "But that isn't...I-I mean...I don't...I...That's not really what I'm looking for from him...At least...I don't think..."

Melty's emotional struggle only confused Plum even more, so the dragon took a moment to think before speaking up again. "Well then, what are you looking for Melty?"

As soon as she heard Plum's latest question, Melty took a single deep breath, then took about thirty seconds to calm down and collect herself before answering. "All I'm really looking for is a way to ensure the survival of this world Plum. Yes, I care about my kingdom and its people deeply, but not just them. To me at least, all life is precious, and must be protected. Even if kingdoms like Siltvelt hate me and my kingdom for going to war with them, Ill always do everything in my power to ensure the survival and prosperity of all forms of life in this world. I do believe that Damian can do just that, but not as he is now. Not as long as he carries such a strong hatred for humanity."

Plum listened to Melty's answer, and was beginning to understand what it was she was looking for. "You're a good person Melty, but do you really think that you can erase all of lord Damian's hatred? I wont lie. Its very strong, and it runs deep within him."

"I'm not sure Plum, but I'm going to try. For the sake of this world, and everyone in it, I will never give up. So I'm putting my faith in Damian, and hopefully one day, he'll be able to put his faith in me too." Melty answered Plum with as much determination and confidence as she could muster, but if she was being honest, she wasn't sure if she'd be able get through to me at all.

All of this caused Plum to smile at Melty yet again, as she mentally hoped that Melty would be able to find a way to make that happen for both me and Roxanne. Granted, Plum loved us both very much, but whenever she sensed our hatred for humanity, it always left her feeling very uneasy. "Thanks Melty. All I really want out of life is for those I care for to be happy. As a dragon, there isn't much I can do about lord Damian and Roxanne's hatred of humanity, but you can. And I really hope you're able to figure something out Melty."

Hearing this, Melty instantly smiled back at Plum, very grateful to have her support in this endeavor. However, the young girl's smile didn't last long, as Plum's words made her think of something else. "I really appreciate all of that Plum, but is that really all you want out of life? Don't get me wrong. Wanting those close to you to be happy is a very benevolent and noble thing to want, but what about your happiness?"

Melty's questions caught Plum by surprise, causing her to lose her smile too, as she began to ponder her friend's words. "To be honest, I haven't really thought about it all that much Melty. I'm not sure what I-" Plum slowly looked up at the sky as she spoke, but then stopped cold, seeing something up in the sky that brought up all kinds of deep seeded emotions within the young dragon.

Seeing this, Melty was a little surprised and confused at first, but then turned and looked up at the sky herself, wondering what Plum was seeing. After about ten seconds, the princess located the cause of Plum's sudden silence. One of the clouds in the sky above had taken the form of a dragon, but unlike Plum, this dragon had larger front claws, and wings. "Ah yes. That cloud looks just like a dragon, but not one like you Plum. You're a Tyrella type dragon, but that cloud is in the shape of a Wyr type dragon."

Plum snapped out of her trance as soon as she heard Melty's words, but didn't take her eyes off the cloud just yet. "Oh, I see. Was the dragon emperor a Wyr type dragon Melty?"

Melty continued to look up at the dragon cloud too, but still gave Plum an answer. "Yes, he was. At least that's what the legends say, and I believe them to be true. Wyr type dragons are the biggest and most powerful dragons in the world, but ever since the dragon emperor was slain, they've been in decline, and are now very rare. I believe you, Damian, and Roxanne fought one not too long ago. Well...an undead one anyway. It really is a shame. I mean, I love filolials very much, but it still saddens me to think about what's happened to the dragon race. Oh! I'm sorry Plum! I hope none of this is upsetting you at all!" Melty suddenly realized everything she'd been saying to her dragon friend, and quickly apologized for possibly hurting her feelings.

However, Plum was far too deep in thought at that moment to be upset about anything. And the more she looked up at the dragon shaped cloud, the more she thought about her race, her heritage, and what she could do for them. "Melty, is it possible for a Tyrella type dragon to change into a Wyr type dragon?"

Plum's rather sudden question had caused Melty to snap out of her apologetic state, as she turned towards Plum once more, and gave her question some thought. "Well, I've never heard of that happened, but given the fact that some filolials can evolve into filolial kings and queens, I suppose it might be possible for dragons to evolve too. Why do you ask Plum?"

"This might seem sudden Melty, but I think there is something that I want for myself out of life. I think Id like to become a dragon empress, and bring my kind back from the edge of extinction. Even if its not possible, it pains me just to think about what's become of my kind, so I wanna save them." Plum answered Melty, continuing to look up at the dragon cloud until it faded away, as images of herself flying through the sky with hundreds of other dragons began to fill Plum's mind.

Those same images began to appear in Melty's mind too, as she listened to everything Plum had to say. The blue haired girl then smiled at her friend, moved a little closer to her on the bench they sat on, and gently patted Plum's back with one hand. "I think that's an amazing idea Plum. If anyone can pull it off, its you. You're so nice, and kind hearted. Not to mention incredibly strong. You'd make a great dragon empress."

Upon hearing all of this, Plum finally turned back towards Melty, smiled at her, then happily nuzzled her face against the princess' head. "Awww. Thanks Melty. You're really nice too."

The nuzzling quickly caused Melty to let out some giggles, as she decided to give her friend a hug in response. "Think nothing of it Plum. Now, while we still have some time, why don't we play some games?"

Hearing this, Plum nodded, starting to get excited once again. "Yes please!"

With that, Plum and Melty pulled away from each other, stood back up, and the princess proceeded to teach Plum several different games that she learned growing up. The two of them ended up having loads of fun, but made sure to remember to return to me and Roxanne when their playtime was up.

X

After about an hour of playtime, the dragon and the princess returned to the shed, where me and Roxanne were patiently waiting for them. We were happy to see that both of them were smiling, which was a clear sign that the two of them had a good time.

With that, it was finally time for us to leave Reichnott's town, and head for Idol's territory. But before that, Plum gave Melty a gentle nudge, pushing her towards me a little.

The princess was a bit surprised by this at first, but after she and Plum exchanged some glances, she could tell what Plum was doing. So, after taking a deep breath and gathering her courage, Melty walked over to me, and got my attention. "Damian, I don't mean to waste more of our time, but could I talk to you about something? Its important."

Hearing this, I turned towards Melty right away, while Roxanne and Plum stood off to the side and listened. "First of all, ya didn't waste any of our time Melty. Its good for us to enjoy some down time when we can, so I'm glad you and Plum had fun. And secondly, yeah. I'm pretty sure we can spare a few more minutes, so what's on your mind Melty?"

Before answering me, Melty took on a more serious tone and facial expression, but also seemed a bit nervous and unsure as well. "I was just thinking that as a crowned princess, should I really keep running like this? As a member of the royal family of Melromarc, there's just so much more I could be doing, but I feel like I'm doing nothing, because I just keep running."

Giving advice wasn't really my strong suit, especially when the one looking for it was human royalty, but even if my advice wasn't the best, it was better then nothing. So, after giving it some thought, I gave Melty the best advice I could think of. "Listen Melty, even though you are royalty, that doesn't really matter right now. Your bitchy sister and that Three Heroes Church have got almost the whole kingdom against us. I don't think this is the kind of situation you can just talk your way out of, and while you are a fairly capable mage, if you try to reason with them, they'll probably just kill you without even listening to what you have to say. Whether you're royalty, a commoner, or even a demi-human, everyone always feels like they could do more in life at least once. Even I used to feel that way almost all the time before being summoned to this world, especially after my best friend Shawn took his own life."

My words didn't seem to help much, as Melty clenched her fists, and started to sound a little frustrated with herself. "Yes, I know Damian, but still, I cant help feeling...so pathetic. Also...I did promise all of you that Id bring everyone that ever wronged you to justice, but I'm worried that, when the time comes, I might not have it in me to take the lives of my father and sister. I agree that what they've done is unforgiveable, and that this kingdom would be far better off without them, but I've never taken the life of anyone before. Much less the lives of my own father and sister."

I continued to listen to everything the young princess had to say, as my own facial expression softened. A small smile then appeared on my face, as I closed the distance between Melty and myself, knelt down to her, and pulled her into a hug, giving the back of her head a few gentle rubs. "The thing is, ya don't have to Melty. Stop being so hard on yourself. Everyone has things that they can and cant do, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. We're all counting on you to handle all the political stuff, but you can leave all the actual killing to us. I might be a demon lord, but Id never ask ya to do anything that you were uncomfortable with Melty. Besides, I'm positive that Roxanne and Sasha have more of a beef with your old man then anyone else in this entire world. If anyone's gonna kill him, its gonna be them."

The rather sudden hug caused Melty to flinch and blush immediately, but she managed to remain calm, as she listened to my words, then slowly hugged me back, already feeling much more at ease. "Thank you Damian. I wont lie, even if they are bad people, the thought of losing my father and sister does make my heart ache at least a little, but I wont stand in your way. Just promise me that, even if you leave this kingdom, you'll still be there for me when I need it. This kingdom needs you. And I think...I need you too."

Melty may have been a human, but if I was being honest, it made me really happy to hear that last part from her, as Id secretly wished to hear those very words from my younger siblings for years. So I continued to hug the blue haired princess, and gave her my answer. "I haven't been able to say this to anyone in years Melty, but if someone I care about needs me to be there, Ill be there. I know the future seems dark and uncertain right now, but you're not goin into it alone."

Hearing those words from me made Melty's heart skip a beat, as her blush grew, and a small smile appeared on her face as well, as she continued to hug me too. "I really appreciate that Damian. It makes me feel a lot better."

The two of us separated a few seconds after that, but we both kept smiling at each other, as a rather devious idea crossed my mind. "Good. I was worried I might have to use my secret weapon there. It always cheered my sister up back when we were kids and she was upset."

This caused Melty's curiosity to rise, as she raised an eyebrow at me while responding. "Oh really? And what is this secret weapon of yours?"

"Ill show ya." Suddenly, and without warning, I smirked, and began to tickle Melty all along her ribs and under her arms.

"Ahahahahahahah! Hey! Damian! Ahahahahahahah! Stop it! I'm warning you! Ahahahahahahah! This isn't funny!" Melty managed to yell out in between her equally loud laughs, as she quickly found herself on the ground, struggling to escape my assault, but it was no use.

Even though we weren't the ones being tickled, me, Roxanne, and Plum all started laughing at this too, though not as much as Melty. Obviously. I hadn't gotten to do this to anyone in years, so I made sure to enjoy it for another minute or so. After that, I stopped, pulled my hands away from the princess, and got back on my feet, offering a hand to her. "Sorry Melty. I just couldn't help myself."

Melty took a moment to catch her breath, then turned and looked up at me, pouting, blushing, and glaring a little all at the same time. But then, even she couldn't help smiling again, as she took my hand, and got back on her feet as well, dusting herself off and fixing her hair after that. "Okay, okay. I've said what I needed to, you've had your fun, and we still have plenty of daylight left. If all is said and done for now, then I think its about time we moved on. Don't you agree?"

I let out a few more chuckles, then let go of Melty's hand once she was on her feet, and gave her a nod. "Yup. Id say so. If we leave right now, we can make it to Idol's territory by nightfall. So lets move out ladies, and finally do what we set out to do."

Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all nodded at me, then we all refocused ourselves on getting ready to head to Idol's territory. However, about a minute after that, Roxanne's fox ears suddenly twitched, and Plum let out a gasp. Clear signs that the two of them were sensing something. Something bad. "Lord Damian, we've got trouble." My dear kitsune quickly informed me, and immediately put a hand on the handle of her sword.

Hearing this, me and Melty both lost our smiles, and immediately got on guard as well. "Again? Already? Damn it. Where are they?" I asked after letting out a frustrated sigh, really not in the mood to deal with Malty and her idiot patrol again so soon.

"It feels like they're out in front of the house, but I don't think its Melty's sister and the other heroes this time lord Damian." Plum answered me, pointing out the direction in which she was sensing all these new negative emotions coming from.

Fortunately for us, the shed had a window, so all four of us gathered around it, and looked outside, careful not to let ourselves be spotted by whoever was there though. It was a little hard to see the front of Reichnott's home from the shed, so we couldn't see everything, but we could still see enough.

Straight away, we saw knights. Lots of knights. As well as several horse-drawn carriages parked out in front of Reichnott's home, and they were rather fancy looking carriages. Definitely not the kind of carriages that just anyone would own.

The next thing we saw was Reichnott himself walking out of his home with two knights, but Reichnott's hands were tied behind his back, indicating that he had just been arrested, and was now being taken away. Needless to say, this was a real shock to Melty's system. "What's going on?! Why is Reichnott being taken away?! And under whose orders?!"

"You're guess is as good as mine. Almost everyone in this kingdom is still looking for us, and whoever is in charge of these knights probably accused Reichnott of hiding us. Tch. Makes sense they'd blame him without proof. Most humans in this kingdom hate demi-humans, and Reichnott is in charge of a town filled with em." I quickly deduced, as a large number of knights began to spread out all over Reichnott's property to search for us.

"It looks that way to me lord Damian. But still, Reichnott is a nobleman. Not just anyone can go against a nobleman's orders in this kingdom, even if they do support demi-humans and the shield hero. If Reichnott's being arrested, then the person behind this has to be a nobleman themselves, or higher. And for once, I don't think its the king or his bitchy daughter. I know their magic, and this isn't either of them. The magic I'm sensing now is different." Roxanne added, continuing to use her magic sensing abilities to keep an eye on every last human in the surrounding area, so to speak.

Me and my two companions didn't know very many noblemen from the kingdom of Melromarc, but Melty sure did, and since we were so close to the territory of another nobleman, me, Roxanne, and Melty quickly put two and two together, while Plum just looked at all of us with high levels of confusion on her face. "Uhhh...Can someone fill me in please?"

"This is likely the work of Idol, Plum. The nobleman we came all this way to see. We already know that he hates demi-humans, so he likely hates any humans that side with them too. Plus, we're way too close to his territory for this to just be a coincidence." I answered her, knowing that all of that was just a hunch, but my hunches had never steered me wrong before.

"If Idol really is here, then that just makes things easier for us. Lets just kill him here and now, free Sasha, and be done with it." Roxanne said in a rather aggressive tone, already preparing to leave the shed, find Idol, and kill him dead.

However, the kitsune didn't make it very far, as Melty suddenly grabbed her arm, and stopped her cold. "Please reconsider Roxanne. You don't want to do that. At least, not here. Trust me. No matter how stealthy you are, and even if you kill every last one of Idol's knights, word will still get out about what happened here. And when the king finds out that a nobleman was killed in a town populated by demi-humans, he'll definitely blame it on them, then every single demi-human in this town will be in big trouble. It'll be your home village all over again."

Roxanne listened to the princess' words, and started to reconsider her current course of action immediately, as we all knew very well that Melty was absolutely right, and none of us wanted anything bad to happen to what was probably the last safe haven for demi-humans in the kingdom of Melromarc. Therefore, the only solution was for us to stay hidden, and wait for Idol and his knights to return to his territory, where it would be perfectly okay for us to end his life.

Sadly, it didn't look like they were gonna leave anytime soon. The knights were still searching for us, and they were very determined not to leave empty handed. Sooner or later, they'd find us for sure.

It became abundantly clear to us that we needed a plan, and fast. A plan that would make these knights turn around and leave without any fighting or killing, but that was easier said then done.

Just then, our thought processes were interrupted, as we all heard some screams and loud gasps coming from outside. All four of us quickly came back to reality, and looked out the window once more to see what was going on. And what we ended up seeing was several knights questioning, and getting more then a little rough with some of the human maids and demi-human citizens of Reichnott's town.

By that point, it became extremely difficult for us to just stay where we were and not make a scene, but we knew that things would eventually be worse for the citizens of this town if we took action. We needed a better plan then that, especially since we were running out of time, as the knights were getting closer and closer to the shed with every second that went by.

Fortunately for us, Melty was very good at remaining calm under pressure, as the blue haired princess quickly came up with an idea. Although, her idea wasn't exactly ideal, but even so, it was the best, and also the only idea she could think of. So, after taking a single deep breath, and a quick moment to compose herself, Melty suddenly spoke up without warning, then ran out the doors of the shed. "Forgive me everyone."

None of us realized what was happening at first, but the second me and my companions saw Melty run as fast as she could out of our hiding place, we were all very shocked and confused by her actions. "Wait Melty! What are you doing?! Don't go!" Plum called out to Melty, extremely worried about her at that moment.

As much as it pained us to do this, Roxanne quickly used two of her tails to cover Plum's mouth as soon as the shock wore off, while I closed the shed doors as quietly as possible. Neither of us knew what Melty was up to, but we knew that she wasn't a fool like more of the other humans we knew. "Calm down Plum. We know you're worried about her, but I'm sure Melty has some kind of plan. For now, lets just watch, stay quiet, and see what happens." I said to my scaly companion in an empathetic tone, a little worried about Melty myself, as all three of us turned back to the window, hoping that the princess' plan, what ever it was, would work.

While the three of us remained hidden, Melty ran out to the front of Reichnott's manor, and confronted the knights there without even a hint of doubt or hesitation on her face or in her voice. "What do you think you're doing?!" The princess yelled at the knights as loud as she could, causing all of them to stop their searching and interrogating, as they all turned towards her, and were very surprised to see princess Melty of all people standing before them. "I am Melty Q Melromarc! Second princess of the kingdom of Melromarc! I demand that you leave the citizens of this town alone!"

The knights did as she said, but still seemed unsure about what to do next, starting to whisper among themselves. And while they had the chance, the demi-human citizens of the town quickly vacated the area, though it pained them to leave their lord Reichnott tied up and in custody.

"My, my. If it isn't princess Melty." The sound of a new voice suddenly grabbed everyone's attention, as the door of one of the parked carriages opened, and a second nobleman emerged from said carriage, walked over to Melty, and gave her a bow and a rather sleazy grin. "I'm so glad to see that you're alright. I rushed right over here because I was concerned for your safety."

And just like that, our suspicions were confirmed. The nobleman that now stood before Melty was none other than Idol Rabier himself.

Melty looked at the nobleman, seeing that our suspicions were correct, and managed to maintain her composure. By this point, she knew very well that likely everything he was saying to her was a lie. So she made sure to keep that in mind, as she gave him a response. "Idol Rabier. I heard rumors that in the past you'd had some disagreements with my father."

Idol raised his head, but kept his grin, as he continued to speak with the princess, with two knights at his sides at all times. "Yes. That is true."

"In that case, may I assume that these soldiers are with you?" Melty asked, glancing around at the multitude of knights in the area.

"They are indeed." Idol answered her again, acting as courteous as possible, even if his grin gave off a completely different impression, which it did.

"Then have them withdraw from this town immediately!" Melty said to the nobleman before her in a very firm and unyielding tone, determined to make the plan in her head a success.

However, Idol was completely unfazed as well, staring right back into Melty's eyes as he responded to her words. "Before I do something like that, tell me where the devil of the shield is hiding."

Melty saw that coming a mile away, so she was well prepared for a response like that one. "First of all, he's called the Shield Hero. There's no such person as the devil of the shield. And secondly, the only other thing that I can tell you about him is that he's long gone by now. I encouraged him and his companions to escape. There's no way you and your men will ever be able to catch up to him now. You should also know that I intend to tell my mother everything that has happened here today, and do everything in my power to clear the Shield Hero's good name. Now, if we're done here, you will take me to the capital as soon as possible."

"Oh, don't worry princess. I understand perfectly. Ill make arrangements for your journey to the capital at my mansion. You'll be far more comfortable there." Idol said to Melty, then gestured for his knights to escort her to his carriage. "Alright men, take her!"

At his command, two knights escorted Melty to Idol's carriage, as the rest of Idol's knights began to return to the parked carriages, preparing to head back to his territory as soon as their lord gave the order to do so. Melty didn't try to fight this at all, but just before she boarded Idol's carriage, she glanced at the shed, knowing that me and my companions were watching, and gave us all a small, three second long smile.

All the while, me, Roxanne, and Plum did indeed watch that entire scene unfold from Reichnott's shed. We all had mixed reactions about the whole thing, but none of us dared to make a move, knowing what would happen to this town and its people if we did.

None of us had ever actually seen Idol Rabier before, so we didn't know what he looked like. That is, until we overheard Melty call him by name during their conversation. As soon as we heard this, Roxanne's anger started to rise, as she grit her teeth, gripped the handle of her sword, and the fur on all five of her tails puffed up as well. The albino kitsune was very tempted to leave the shed, run full speed at the nobleman, and slice his head clean off of his body. Fortunately, she managed to hold herself back, remembering that if she killed Idol in this town, even if she used her Hide Mirage spell to avoid being seen, just his death alone would spell doom for the citizens who lived here.

At the same time, a few small tears began to appear in Plum's eyes, as she watched Melty, her friend, board the carriage of someone she had been sensing some very unpleasant emotions from since his arrival at Reichnott's manor. But just like Roxanne, Plum held herself back, putting her complete trust in Melty, and not wanting to cause trouble for her or anyone else.

As for me, I clenched my fists tightly, not enjoying this very much myself. However, as the conversation between Melty and Idol went on, I slowly realized what Melty's plan was, and managed to calm myself back down. I then grabbed a hand of each of my dear companions, doing my best to calm them down and put their minds at ease as well.

Thankfully, my companions were able to calm themselves back down, as we all continued to watch and stay quiet until the coast was clear. Pretty soon, all of Idol's carriages left Reichnott's manor, and his town soon after, taking with them every last one of Idol's knights, Melty, and Reichnott himself.

About five minutes after they were out of our sight, I let go of my companion's hands, then all three of us finally came out of the shed, and stared off in the direction of Idol's territory. "Melty...She gave herself up to trick Idol into returning to his territory, giving us the chance we need to head there ourselves and finish him off. Even though he and his knights were looking for us, Melty knew there was no way he'd be able to resist getting his hands on Melromarc's crowned princess. So, being the greedy human that he is, he settled for her, and left." I explained to my companions, just wanting to make sure they understood Melty's actions, if they didn't already.

After listening to my explanation, Roxanne nodded, then added some information of her own. "Yeah, that makes sense. Melty knows that we're already planning on going to Idol's territory to save Sasha, and that we'd be heading out sooner rather then later. The only real difference now is that we have more then one person to save. Sasha, Melty, and Reichnott too I guess."

I nodded at Roxanne's words, as both she and I felt rather moved by how far Melty had just gone for us. She knew that Idol was a scumbag, and that there was a good chance that he would hurt, or do something even worse to her, but she still did what she did anyway. "You're right Roxanne, and we will save them. All of them. What Melty did proves that she has a hell of a lot of faith in us, despite how ironic that sounds. Regardless, we're not gonna let her, or anyone else down either. We'll save Sasha, Melty, Reichnott, and any other slaves Idol has under his thumb as well." I spoke in a confident and determined tone, then Roxanne nodded in full agreement, filled with plenty of confidence and determination herself.

Plum could sense the emotions that the two of us were feeling at that moment, and they made her smile immediately, as she dried her tears, and matched our emotions perfectly. "Well then what are we waiting for?! Lets go save them! Who knows what kind of horrible things that Idol guy will do to Melty if we leave her with him for too long?!"

I could think of a few things, but rather then make Plum worry, I instead turned to her, and nodded once more, getting a grin that perfectly matched my emotions. "We're not gonna give him the chance Plum. Idol Rabier dies today. So lets grab the carriage, and get goin. I really don't feel good about keeping two ladies waiting."

Roxanne and Plum both smiled at me, then each other, as my words made them both very happy. Plum then transformed into her dragon form, and the three of us went back into the shed to retrieve our carriage. Me and Roxanne hooked Plum up to it, the two of us climbed aboard, I pulled out the map, Roxanne grabbed the reins, and Plum proceeded to pull said carriage out of Reichnott's shed.

However, just before we left, we were approached by a fairly large number of demi-human citizens, each of them holding pitchforks, shovels, and any other makeshift weapons they had on hand. They begged us to take them along with us to Idol's territory, very determined to free their beloved lord Reichnott from Idol's clutches.

This was a bit of a surprise to us, as me and my two companions quickly talked it over amongst ourselves before giving the crowd of demi-humans an answer. In the end, we all agreed that we could use all the help we could get, but we didn't want a bunch of innocent demi-humans to get hurt either. As such, we agreed to let the demi-human citizens come along, but under two conditions.

First, they'd only be coming along to protest and riot at the front gates of Idol's territory, causing a distraction big enough so that me and my companions could sneak into Idol's territory undetected, but they were not to cause any real damage or harm anyone. Only because we didn't want Idol's knights to harm or kill any of the demi-human citizens.

Second, if Idol's knights did start attacking the demi-human citizens, they were to fall back immediately. Again, we didn't want them to risk their lives over this, and we assured them that the three of us would be fine, even if we lost our distraction. We also assured them that we wouldn't need very much time to save their lord Reichnott, and that we would definitely save him, as well as Sasha, Melty, and any other demi-human slaves that Idol was keeping within his territory. No matter what.

With our new and improved plan, and terms, set, the crowd of demi-humans raised their makeshift weapons and cheered for me and my companions, then quickly ran back to their homes to get their own respective means of transportation ready to go. Sadly, they didn't have much in the way of transportation. But thankfully, we didn't have far to go.

Once the demi-human citizens were ready to go, I told them to follow us to Idol's territory, and that me, Roxanne, and Plum would break away from the group as soon as we were close. With that, our forces finally began to advance, heading straight for Idol's territory as fast as we could, with levels of determination and spirit that would put any knight, adventurer, or "hero" to shame.

X

The sun had begun to set as soon as we arrived in Idol's territory, and just like we planned, Plum pulled our carriage into the forest on the left side of the road leading into the main city of Idol's territory, while the crowd of demi-humans continued down the road, eventually stopping once they arrived at the city's main gates. The gates were currently closed, but that didn't stop them from rioting, as they raised their weapons, and started yelling as loud as they could, demanding the safe return of their lord Reichnott. This quickly gained the attention of almost every single knight in the city, as they all quickly headed for the main gates to deal with this situation.

Meanwhile, after unhooking Plum from our carriage, and making sure that said carriage was well hidden in the forest, me, Roxanne, and Plum all stood on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the entire city, as a gentle breeze blew passed us. The three of us then looked over the entire city with mixed emotions, until Roxanne finally broke the silence. "Sasha, big sister, I'm finally here. Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

"Don't worry Roxanne. We know that Sasha is somewhere in this city, and since she's one of Idol's slaves, Id say that's a pretty good place to start looking." I spoke up, then pointed straight at Idol's mansion, which sat right on top of a small hill in the middle of his city. "I'm not sure how long those demi-humans can keep Idol's knight distracted, so lets hurry. Once we're on the grounds of Idol's mansion, we'll start searchin for Sasha, Melty, and Reichnott, and slaughter any humans that try to stop us."

"Leave it to me lord Damian. Ill get us inside for sure." Plum said with a smile on her face, as she lowered herself down so that me and Roxanne could climb onto her back.

The two of us did just that, then I grabbed onto Plum's reins, Roxanne grabbed onto my waist, and Plum stomped her foot on the ground, using her earth magic to create a path down into the city for us. Once that was done, she ran full speed down into the city, then ran through the city streets, heading straight for Idol's mansion.

As Plum ran, Roxanne used her Hide Mirage spell to turn us all invisible, hiding us from the eyes of any humans that were still walking around outside at this hour. Of course, unlike back in Reichnott's town, the three of us had absolutely no qualms about killing any humans that were foolish enough to get in our way. Still, we thought it best to avoid being discovered until it was absolutely necessary to blow our cover. If it became absolutely necessary for us to do so of course.

It didn't take us very long to reach the base of the hill that Idol's mansion was built upon, but Plum didn't let that stop her, as she once again used her earth magic to make us a path up the hill and over the large wall that stood all the way around the mansion. Once we were inside, Plum began to walk around the mansion's grounds, as we all began the search for Sasha.

As much as Melty had grown on us, we all agreed to look for Sasha first, since she was our original priority and all. Unfortunately, since Roxanne hadn't seen her in so many years, and Plum had never even met her before, the two of them were having a difficult time locating Sasha with their magic and emotion sensing abilities, respectively.

As such, we had no other choice but to search for her the old fashioned way. So Plum began to walk all around the mansion's courtyard, while Roxanne continued to use her Hide Mirage spell to keep us hidden, and we all kept our eyes peeled, hoping to spot some kind of sign that would lead us to a white tiger demi-human girl.

"Sasha, where are you? You have to be here. Just give me a sign. Any sign. Please." Roxanne whispered to herself as we searched the mansion's grounds, unwilling to give up, especially now that we were finally here. She desperately wanted to just call out Sasha's name as loud as she could, but she managed to keep herself from doing so, knowing that Idol might use Sasha or Melty as a hostage if he found out we were there.

Even though she was whispering, me and Plum both still heard everything Roxanne was saying, and it quickly made our concern for her grow. However, it also made our determination to find Sasha grow as well. "We're not leaving without her Roxanne. We'll find her. Even if we have to search all night. Or I suppose we could just torture Idol until he talks. I'm positive that being a pampered nobleman has made him soft, so he should crack pretty easily." I whispered to my dear kitsune, trying to reassure her, as I already started thinking up methods of torture that we could use on Idol.

"Lord Damian's right Roxanne, so please don't worry. Still, it is kinda weird. It doesn't look like anyone's around here at all." Plum chimed in, whispering too, and looking quite confused at the fact that we were the only ones present in Idol's courtyard.

Suddenly, that realization struck me and Roxanne like a bolt of lightning, causing our eyes to widen with shock. Neither of us could believe that we didn't notice it sooner, but Plum was right. Apart from us, the courtyard of Idol's mansion was completely devoid of life. There were no guards, or anyone else for that matter, to be seen anywhere.

To us, that was a big red flag. Both me and Roxanne began to feel uneasy, as we slowly but surely realized that we had likely fallen into a trap. We had no idea what kind of trap it was though. The three of us had been walking all around Idol's courtyard for almost ten minutes now, but nothing happened. True, Plum was still carrying me and Roxanne on her back, and Roxanne's Hide Mirage spell was still hiding us, but we were still unable to shake the feeling that something was very wrong here.

However, before any of us could say or do anything else, a new sound suddenly caught our attention. It sounded like someone managed to forcibly punch or kick open a large stone door, which is exactly what we saw when we all turned in the direction of the sound we'd heard. There, on the ground on the left side of the courtyard, a fairly large door made of stone had just been opened, revealing a secret passage way that looked like it lead to a cellar hidden beneath the mansion.

The next thing we heard was some footsteps coming up the cellar stairs, and from the sound of them, whoever was coming up said stairs was alone and barefoot. Even so, none of us lowered our guard, but neither did we worry too much about this. With Roxanne's Hide Mirage spell still hiding us, we knew that whoever, or what ever was coming wouldn't be able to see us at least. However, what came next was probably the biggest shock of our entire lives, especially for Roxanne.

The lone being slowly emerged from the darkness of Idol's cellar, giving us a clear look at them. Just one look, and Roxanne could barely contain a huge gasp, as her eyes grew wider then ever before, and some tears began to form in them as well.

Roxanne's reaction alone told me and Plum all that we needed to know, as the two of us looked at the lone being in silence and disbelief for a moment. _"Is that...?" _I thought to myself, quickly coming to the conclusion that my thoughts had to be the case. There was just no other explanation.

The being that now stood before us was a nineteen year old girl, with blue eyes, and long white hair that flowed freely, all the way down to the middle of her back, and had black stripes in it as well. She stood tall, at about the same height as I was, with a very well toned, and yet lean physique. She also had some fairly nice curves too. Not as nice as Plum's were when she was in her lizardwoman form, but this girl was still a sight to behold for sure. From the way she was dressed, she was definitely a slave. She wore no footwear, had several dirt and blood stains on her arms, legs, and face, and was dressed in very old and dirty rags. Fortunately for her, they still covered everything they were supposed to.

But, by far, the things that stood out the most about this girl were her ears, and her tail. Her ears were on top of her head, and they were quite easily identified as cat ears, coated in white and black fur that perfectly matched her hair. As for her tail, it too was definitely a feline tail, and was covered in the exact same white and black fur as her ears. These weren't just any cat ears and tail though. They were the ears and tail of a tiger. A white tiger.

There was no mistaking it. The girl that stood before us was the very girl that we'd come so far to find. Roxanne's long lost sister-at-arms, and a surviving member of the hakuko demi-human race. Sasha herself.

While all three of us were busy processing this, Sasha suddenly narrowed her eyes right at us, and spoke in a firm tone. "I know you're there. Stop hiding, and face me. Do, and I might make this quick." The proud hakuko said to us, raising her fists, and taking a battle ready stance.

This surprised all of us yet again, as we all looked right back at Sasha. We were still invisible, and none of us had made a sound since she appeared before us, but she was still looking right at us, like we were crystal clear to her. Although, I quickly deduced that it probably wasn't that she could see us, but far more likely that she just had incredibly good magic sensing abilities, like Roxanne had.

Therefore, we all decided that there wasn't much point in hiding anymore, not that any of us wanted to continue hiding anyway. The one we'd come to find was now right in front of us, and more then anything else at this moment, Roxanne just wanted to run right over to her long lost sister, and give her a big hug.

So, Roxanne ended her Hide Mirage spell, Plum lowered herself down, then me and Roxanne climbed off of her back. After that, we all looked straight at Sasha once again, as Roxanne took a few steps towards her, and was the first one of us to speak up. "Sasha. Big sister. We finally found you. I'm so happy to see that you're still alive and well." The kitsune spoke to the hakuko in a gentle and relieved tone, smiling at her, as a few tears of joy slowly rolled down her face.

Sasha listened to everything the albino kitsune had to say, then it was her turn to feel high levels of shock and disbelief, as her facial expression corresponded perfectly with those emotions. Additionally, Sasha's arms fell to her sides, as her tone changed into a gentler one, and a smile slowly appeared on her face, looking like it was her first real smile in years. "...Roxie...You came for me...I always knew you would."

Roxanne nodded her head rapidly, very happy that Sasha recognized her right away, and that she called her by the same nickname she did when they were kids. "Of course I did. I'm just sorry it took so long. I'm a lot stronger now though. I'm a real adventurer now, just like we always talked about. Oh, and these two are my hero, and little sister. Lord Damian, and Plum. Its because of them that I made it this far." Roxanne turned and gestured at me and Plum as she spoke, introducing us to Sasha.

Hearing this, I felt like that was my cue, so I struck my usual demon lord pose, covering the right side of my face, and getting a big grin on my face. "Its a pleasure to finally meet you Sasha. I am the demon lord Damian Abyss, as well as the new shield hero of this world."

Plum couldn't help giggling a bit at my demon lord routine, in a good way of course. Once that was done, she also smiled at Sasha, and gave her an introduction. "I cant believe we're finally getting to meet you Sasha. Roxanne's told us a lot about you. Like she said, I'm Plum. I hope we can become good friends, and maybe even fellow party members too."

As she listened to my and Plum's words, Sasha gave us both a once over, then found herself smiling once again, impressed by how well Roxanne seemed to have done for herself since they last saw each other. "Well Ill be damned. The new shield hero, and a dragon to boot. Not bad Roxie. Not bad at all. I always knew you had it in you though. I'm sure you've got some very exciting stories to tell, don't you sis?"

"Yeah! I've got so much to tell you big sis. And I'm sure you have a lot to tell us too. But before anything else, lets get you cleaned up, into some real clothes, and get you a nice hot meal. You must be starving." Roxanne answered her sister-at-arms, continuing to smile at her, then she finally started to walk towards her.

This whole moment was very sweet and touching, as we all ended up getting caught up in it. So much so that Sasha forgot about something very important, and when she finally remembered it, she lost her smile, and quickly held one hand out to Roxanne, looking and sounding very serious out of nowhere. "Wait! What the hell am I doing?! Don't come near me Roxie! Get back now! You have to-" Sasha was suddenly cut off, as the slave crest on her chest began to glow, and gave her a powerful shock. Straight away, Sasha grit her teeth, gripped the cloth over her chest, and fell to one knee, wincing in extreme pain, and looking like she was trying to fight it. "Rgh!...No!...Damn it!...Not her!"

And just like that, the moment was gone, as all three of us lost our smiles, and started to worry about Sasha, especially Roxanne. "Sasha! Damn it! I forgot about the slave crest! What did that bastard order you to do Sasha?! Talk to me big sis!" Roxanne called out to her dear sister, knowing that this was the result of Sasha disobeying a direct order that Idol must've given her at some point after he bought her.

Unfortunately, answering Roxanne's question was anything but easy for Sasha, as her slave crest continued to glow brighter, and the pain that came with it got worse and worse by the second. "...Roxie...GET BACK!" Sasha managed to get a few words out, as the wind all around us began to pick up, and swirl all around the hakuko.

Seeing this, our bad feeling returned with a vengeance, as I narrowed my eyes at Sasha through her wind, using my status screen to get a look at her stats. Needless to say, they were pretty much exactly what I expected from a member of the demi-human race that represents Byakko, the white tiger of the west in this world. Sasha's attack, defense, HP, MP, and SP were all incredibly high and well rounded, but what really caught my attention was her speed stat. It was more then double, maybe even triple my, Roxanne's, and Plum's speed stats combined. I also noticed that Sasha was currently level 50, and she had a gold star next to her status bars, indicating that she was ready for a class upgrade. This had me a bit confused, as I remembered how Roxanne and Plum got their class upgrades at level 40, but I pushed that out of my mind for the time being, and remained focused on the matter at hand.

Still looking at Sasha's stats, I focused my gaze on Sasha's slave crest icon, attempting to get some answers from it. Fortunately for me, my shield came to the rescue yet again. The green gemstone in it started to glow, and my Slave User Shield caused a message to appear in my field of vision. The message told me, in great detail, all the orders that Sasha's master gave her, and my eyes widened immediately after I finished reading them. I didn't have much time, so I quickly held my shield out towards Roxanne and Sasha, and activated one of my skills as fast as I could. "Air Strike Shield!"

In the space of just three seconds, Sasha vanished in the blink of an eye, and my Air Strike Shield appeared directly in front of Roxanne, just in time to block a very strong, wind magic fueled punch from Sasha. Just the impact alone gave off a fairly strong gust of wind, and if it had connected with Roxanne, it would've hit her right in the face, and maybe even blown her head right off.

As one might expect, Sasha was far too fast for us to see at first, but once me, Roxanne, and Plum all saw the hakuko with her fist just inches from Roxanne's head, with only my Air Strike Shield between them, we all let out our own gasps of pure shock and disbelief. However, the look on Sasha's face was far from the look of a cold hearted killer. Rather, Sasha looked scared at first, but then extremely relieved to see that I sprang into action just in time.

Sasha then jumped back from Roxanne, and silence fell over us yet again, but only for about five seconds. After that, Roxanne finally composed herself enough to look at Sasha, and get a few words out. "...Sasha...what was that just now?"

"That wasn't me Roxie! I swear! Its this damn slave crest!" Sasha quickly answered Roxanne, knowing that she didn't have much time before her slave crest gave her another prompt to do what her master ordered her to do.

"Its true Roxanne!" I then stepped in, walking out in front of Roxanne, standing between her and Sasha, as I gave her an explanation. "My shield showed me everything. Sometime after Idol bought Sasha, he ordered her to act as his mansion's guard dog, and kill any intruders that managed to get this far without mercy. And right now, that includes us. This is probably why there are no guards around. With her level of speed and power, Sasha is all the protection anyone needs. I'm also guessing that Idol used her as an executioner, and had her kill anyone he just didn't like. That would explain how Sasha was able to raise her level all the way to 50 while living as a slave."

Roxanne, Plum, and Sasha all listened to my words, then Sasha gained a small grin upon her face. "Well, aren't you the smart one? Roxie sure can pick em. I'm glad to see that the legacy of the shield hero is still going strong, but you'd better have some kind of plan right now. Idol is a gigantic prick, but I actually didn't mind killing all the people that he made me kill. They were all human, so I saw them as nothing more then a means for me to grow stronger, but I cant kill my precious little sister and her loved ones." The hakuko did her best to stay cool and collected, but it was fairly easy to see that her fists were shaking, as a single bead of sweat traveled down the side of her head.

Similarly, I was doing my best to remain calm and collected as well. I never expected a nobleman from Melromarc to actually be smart enough to use a strategy like this, and seeing Roxanne and Sasha's hurt and conflicted faces only made me hate Idol that much more. Thankfully, I did indeed have a plan. It wasn't perfect, but it definitely beat the alternative. "The only ones dying tonight are Idol and his men. I refuse to let you and Roxanne fight Sasha. You're important to Roxanne, and she's important to me. That makes you important to me too. Of course, if you don't fight, that slave crest will kill you. But technically, Idol just told you to kill any intruders. Being the stupid human that he is, he failed to be more specific."

All three inhuman girls continued to listen to what I had to say, but none of them were quite sure what I was getting at just yet. "Lord Damian, what are you trying to say? What are you gonna do?" Plum asked me, more confused then anyone else at this time, as usual.

I kept my eyes on Sasha, but I still answered Plum in a determined tone, taking a battle ready stance of my own. "Plum, you and Roxanne go inside the mansion. Find Melty and Reichnott, make sure they're okay, and Roxanne, you kill Idol. Ill stay out here and deal with Sasha myself."

My answer surprised all three of the girls, and Roxanne was the first one to speak up, her tone filled with uncertainty. "Lord Damian, please don't! I don't like the idea of you and Sasha fighting and hurting each other either! What if one of you ends up getting killed before I kill Idol?! You saw how fast Sasha is, didn't you?!"

To help put Roxanne's mind at ease, I glanced at her, and gave her a grin as I answered her. "C'mon Roxanne. You know me. I'm not just a demon lord. I'm the shield hero. I cant hurt or kill anything on my own, but I do have crazy high defense, and all of Sasha's previous kills were weak humans. This isn't a fight I need to win. I just need to stall Sasha until you finish Idol off. Now go save your sister Roxanne. I promise we'll both be here when you get back."

Roxanne listened to me, and fell silent for a few more seconds, as she slowly gathered her courage and resolve, clenching her fists tightly. "Lord Damian, you're the best. C'mon Plum, lets move!" She smiled at me, then quickly turned to Plum, jumping onto her back, and grabbing her reins.

Plum was still worried about me and Sasha, but just like Roxanne, she trusted me completely. So she gave me a smile too, then gave Roxanne a nod, and turned to face the front doors of Idol's mansion. "I'm with you Roxanne! We'll be back as soon as we can lord Damian!" The dragon said to me, then ran full speed into Idol's mansion with Roxanne on her back, charging right through the front doors. Literally.

Me and Sasha watched them leave, then turned to face each other yet again. "I want you to know that I take no pleasure in what's about to happen Damian, but I have to stay alive until Roxie ends that bastard's miserable life. I just hope you can do the same for the next several minutes." Sasha said to me, relieved that Roxanne managed to get away with her life, but still worried that she might end up killing her world's newest shield hero.

As for me, I truly admired the four guardians for more then half of my life, but I never imagined Id end up meeting Byakko in the flesh, let alone fighting the legend itself. Or herself as the case may be. Still, just getting to meet Byakko had me all kinds of stoked, as I grinned once again, and didn't even think about the possibility of getting killed. "Don't worry. I'm not goin anywhere. Its just you and me for the next several minutes. Now come here kitty, kitty."

My last comment made Sasha glare at me a little, but also made her grin, as she felt herself getting a little excited as well. "Well, you've certainly got some balls on you. I like that." Just like before, the wind picked up and started swirling all around Sasha. Seconds later, she vanished again, moving much faster then the naked eye could see.

At the same time, I raised my shield, and switched over to my Siderite Shield, bracing myself for impact. "Meteor Shield!" A barrier appeared all around me just in time, as Sasha suddenly appeared directly in front of me, and unleashed a barrage of lightning fast, wind magic charged punches.

Our fight for survival had begun. I just hoped we'd both hold out long enough for Roxanne and Plum to finish the mission.

X

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Idol and his men were too busy torturing Reichnott, and trying to get information out of Melty to notice any of what was going on outside in the courtyard. After roughing up Reichnott for a bit, Idol turned his attention towards Melty, planning on doing something even worse to her, revealing that he was a follower of the Three Heroes Church. Never the less, Melty refused to give him even a single piece of information regarding me and my companions, as she did her best to stay strong, even as fear and tears began to fill her eyes.

Fortunately for Melty, Idol never even got the chance, as one of his men suddenly burst into the room. "Idol sir, the devil of the shield is here!"

Hearing this, Melty gasped, then began to calm down, breathing a sigh of relief. Idol wasn't so happy though, as he turned to his solider, and started to look surprised and annoyed at the same time. "He's what?! How could he have gotten passed-"

Idol was suddenly interrupted, as Roxanne and Plum smashed through the wall on the right side of the room out of nowhere. Before anyone had any time to react, Plum let out a roar, and bit the head right off of Idol's solider that had come to warn him. She then spit it out, and turned towards Melty. "We're here Melty! Are you okay?!"

The blue haired princess looked straight back at her friends, and gave them a smile and a nod. "Yes! I'm okay! Thank you Plum, Roxanne!" She then attempted to run over to her inhuman friends, but it turned out that she thanked them just a little bit too soon.

Without any kind of warning, Idol grabbed onto Melty's right pigtail, and held onto it tightly, causing the girl to gasp and wince in pain. Idol then pulled the girl close to him, held a sword to her throat, and glared at Roxanne and Plum. "Stay back! Come any closer, and this girl dies!"

However, the kitsune and the dragon didn't buy his bluff for a second, as they both glared at him, and Roxanne climbed off of Plum's back. "A word of advice. If you're going to bluff, do it right. First Light!" Roxanne held her right hand up in the air, and a brilliant light began to shine from it, blinding Idol immediately.

Then, taking full advantage of the situation, Plum charged straight for Idol, using her emotion sensing abilities to guide her through the light. As soon as she was close enough, she smacked the nobleman as hard as she could with her tail, sending him flying right into the wall behind him.

Idol ended up letting go of Melty in the process, and once she was free, the princess ran right over to Plum. "I knew you'd come. Thank you." Melty said, smiling at her favorite dragon.

Plum smiled right back, very happy to see that Melty was safe and sound. "Of course. We'd never leave a friend behind."

Sadly, Idol wasn't dead just yet, as he slowly got back on his feet, and glared at the three girls. "Rgh...You dare venture onto my land, and then make a mockery out of me? Ill take great pleasure in torturing you all until you take your last breaths!" He yelled at them, then grabbed the whip that he had strapped to the side of his waist.

As soon as they heard his voice, all three girls turned to face him once more, displaying absolutely no fear at all. Plum then pulled Melty aside, and Roxanne began to walk towards Idol, pulling out her sword from its scabbard, as her five tails puffed up once again out of pure rage.

"You miserable, worthless demi!" Idol yelled and glared at Roxanne as she approached, then attempted to whip her with all of his strength.

Unfortunately for him, that didn't amount to much. Without even blinking, Roxanne grabbed his whip before it hit her, then used her fire magic to light the whip on fire. As a result, her blue flames traveled along the whip, until they finally reached Idol's hand.

The second the flames hit his hand, Idol grunted and winced in pain, quickly letting go of the whip, as he continued to glare at the kitsune before him. "Rgh! Damn you!" He then raised his fist that hadn't been burnt, and charged straight for her, but this also proved to be a bad idea.

Once he was close enough, Roxanne quickly spun around, giving Idol a good smack with her tails, which proved to be a whole lot tougher then they looked. She still didn't say a word, as the resulting impact knocked Idol right into the wall behind him yet again.

And just like that, the nobleman crumbled, looking up at Roxanne with fear in his eyes, as he spoke to her in a pleading and quivering tone of voice. "I give up! Please spare my life! I beg of you! Ill give you anything you want!"

Naturally, Roxanne wasn't the slightest bit amused by Idol's words, as she lit her sword on fire, and brought the tip directly to his throat, causing the nobleman to flinch and gasp a split second after. "I want the world to be free of scumbags like you. I'm sure Sasha, and many other demi-humans begged for their freedom, and even their lives just like you are now. But did you show them any kindness, compassion, or mercy? NO! You didn't! So why in the hell would I ever show an evil bastard like you any?!" Roxanne yelled at Idol, giving him the most intense glare she had ever given anyone.

Seeing this, Plum quickly transformed into her lizardwoman form, and wrapped her arms around Melty, holding her close, and turning her away from the scene that was about to unfold. "You shouldn't watch this Melty."

Melty was a bit surprised by Plum's actions at first, but she didn't complain, knowing that Plum only did it out of concern. "Thank you Plum." The princess stayed close to her scaly friend, wrapping her arms around her too, as she waited for the deed to be done.

Plum continued to watch the scene unfold herself, and as she did, she began to notice that Roxanne's emotions were growing very dark. Then, much to the dragon's shock and confusion, she saw some black and purple colored magical energy begin to emerge from Roxanne's body, and float around her. This made Plum start to feel very concerned and uneasy, as she wondered what was happening to her friend and teammate. "Roxanne...?"

**Oh great! Our heroes finally find Sasha, and now all of this happens?! -Sigh- Just another day in another world I suppose.**

**On the plus side, it looks like Melty is finally starting to get through to Damian and Roxanne. But just how much will she be able to get through to them in the end?**

**It also looks like Plum has finally found herself a real goal to aspire to. Will she be able to reach it, as well as the sky above one day? Either way, I'm very proud of her.**

**And finally, it looks like its gonna be Damian vs Sasha, and Roxanne vs Idol next time! I sure hope Damian has a strategy for withstanding Sasha's onslaught! And what the hell is happening to Roxanne?!**

**Will all of our heroes emerge from this situation alive and well?! Or will this be the end of their adventure, and their ambitions?! Find out next time! Right here! Until then, you all know what to do. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay cool.**


	17. Ch 16 - Dark Demise

**Greetings people of the internet! Good morning, afternoon, or what ever time of the day it is for you at this time! How've you all been? I've been pretty up and down myself as of late, but I'm hangin in there. Thankfully, new anime and manga are always good sources of stress relief.**

**Anyway, Id like to take this time to apologize. This chapter took more time then expected to finish, and I'm very sorry about that. I'm not sure what the weather has been like for you all lately, but for me its been almost nothing but thunderstorms for the past month, and they kept knocking out the power in my apartment building, which made it impossible for me to get any work done on this chapter.**

**Thankfully, not even Mother Nature can keep me down for long. The story continues, and I hope the following chapter is worth the wait. Please read on and enjoy.**

**I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters, locations, or events. I only own my OC's. Damian Abyss, Roxanne, Plum, Sasha, and more to come later on.**

Chapter 16 - Dark Demise

After escaping from the literal flames of Malty's fury, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty were back on the road once more. Still bound for Idol Rabier's territory, and Sasha, who we knew was waiting there for us. Along the way, the four of us debated about what to do after rescuing Sasha. Fight our way to Siltvelt, or fight our way to the queen of Melromarc. In the end, we simply decided to let Sasha decide on our next course of action. That is, if she decides to join our team after we save her of course. Roxanne assured us that that wouldn't be an issue though.

Although, before reaching Idol's territory, our travels brought us to a town populated almost exclusively by demi-humans, much to our surprise in an anti demi-human kingdom like Melromarc. As it turned out, said town was governed by a good friend of Melty's. A Melromarc nobleman by the name of Van Reichnott. He seemed nice enough, so we all sat down to lunch with him at his manor, deciding that we could use a little down time before reaching Idol's territory, and the battles that were no doubt waiting for us there. This down time lead to a good amount of bonding and soul searching between the four of us, which we all kind of needed, even if we didn't fully realize it at the time.

Unfortunately, trouble just couldn't resist rearing its ugly head around us once again, as Idol Radier and his men appeared in Reichnott's town without any kind of warning, and like most other humans in the kingdom of Melromarc, they were looking for us. Needless to say, this put us in a rather difficult position, but Melty was quick to remedy the situation, and gave herself over to Idol in order to get him and his men to leave Reichnott's town. Idol ended up taking both Melty and Reichnott, but this gave me, Roxanne, and Plum the opportunity we needed to seek into Idol's territory, and save them, as well as Sasha, and any other demi-human slaves we found of course. The demi-human citizens of Reichnott's town were more then happy to help us out as well, so after making all the necessary preparations, we set out for Idol's territory one more time, accompanied by a small army of demi-humans.

While they kept Idol's soldiers busy for us, me, Roxanne, and Plum were free to sneak right onto the ground of Idol's mansion. Strangely enough, there wasn't a single guard to be found, but that was because Sasha herself was far more powerful and competent then any human soldier. The slave crest Idol had on Sasha forced her to attack Roxanne, but I quickly stepped in, and volunteered to deal with Sasha myself. While I was doing that, Roxanne and Plum headed inside the mansion to rescue Melty and Reichnott, and kill Idol. The two of them easily succeeded in rescuing Melty and Reichnott, then Roxanne prepared to strike down Idol with her own sword. And as she did, some very strange, and very dark magical energy began to emerge from the kitsune's body, which did well to raise Plum's concern, as well as her confusion.

And so, two different battles rage on, on two different fronts, and in two different ways. Although, as one might expect, Roxanne was having a far easier time dealing with her opponent then I was with mine.

As night soon fell over Idol's territory, and the sky grew dark, I stood my ground against Sasha's barrage of lightning fast punches, with the barrier generated from my Meteor Shield skill holding strong all around me. At first, I thought I could simply keep this up until Roxanne killed Idol, knowing that it wouldn't take her very long to do so. Unfortunately, that plan didn't even last a minute, as Sasha demonstrated that she wasn't just beautiful, strong, and fast. She was also very smart.

Since my Meteor Shield skill had never failed to protect me before, I didn't notice it right away, but a small crack appeared at the front of my barrier, right in the spot where Sasha was still pummeling away, and it kept getting bigger and bigger by the second. This surprised me right away, especially since not even the Soul Eater could make a dent in this skill of mine.

Fortunately, I was able to discover the cause mere seconds after I noticed the crack. It was hard to tell at first, given how fast they were, but Sasha's punches weren't random at all. Each and every one was targeted. Sasha made full use of her incredible speed and power, as she struck the same exact spot on my barrier over and over again, wearing down my defenses little by little with every hit.

I quickly realized that this strategy of mine was definitely not gonna work, and that I had to come up with a new one fast. Still, even as a bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of my face, I never lost my grin, or my excitement. Sasha's intelligence, on top of her looks, amazing stats, and the fact that she was the living, breathing incarnation of Byakko herself made me wanna add her to my party, and my harem even more.

Meanwhile, on the outside of my barrier, Sasha continued her assault, never letting up for a second. In fact, with every second that passed, she got even faster, and stronger too, as her wind magic continued to blow and swirl all around her, especially around her fists. The hakuko quickly took notice of the progress she was making on my barrier, as well as the fact that I was starting to sweat a little. So she decided to throw a few taunts my way, as she continued to grin right back at me. "What's wrong Damian?! You can do better then this, cant you?! I thought you wanted to play with the kitty!"

Despite the situation that we were in, it was easy for me to see that Sasha was enjoying this to some degree, just as I was. Naturally, I was happy to see that her time as Idol's slave hadn't broken her spirit, even if she was trying to kill me. "Oh trust me Sasha, there's nothing Id like more right now! But lets save that for another time and place, shall we?!" After making a dirty joke, the green gemstone on my shield began to glow, as I put the only plan I could think of into effect. "Shield Prison!"

Sasha found my joke to be mildly amusing, letting out a few small chuckles as she continued her seemingly endless assault on my barrier. Unfortunately for her, that's exactly what I was going for, as my Shield Prison surrounded her while she was distracted by said joke. Sasha then stopped her whirlwind of punches, caught off guard by my skill, as she took a moment to look all around her, but then immediately got her grin back. "Tch. Okay, I guess I walked right into that one. You're pretty crafty Damian, Ill give you that, but you must know that this cant hold me for long." And just like that, Sasha resumed her barrage of punches, knowing that she could break free from my Shield Prison in seconds.

I knew this too, so I quickly dropped my barrier, and moved back, putting some distance between me and the female hakuko. "Good thing I've got more then! Go, Second Shield!" At my command, a second, slightly larger Shield Prison materialized around the first one, adding another layer of defense to the prison Sasha was currently attempting to free herself from. I wasn't done just yet though, as I switched over to my Frozen Pride Shield, and aimed it straight at the double Shield Prison I had Sasha trapped in. "And now, Ice Walls!" Making use of my ice magic, I created a large cube, made entirely out of ice around the double Shield Prison, and made sure the walls and ceiling were as thick as I could make them.

Still inside the first Shield Prison, Sasha couldn't really tell what was going on outside, but she didn't let that slow her assault on my skill even a little. Besides, she could still hear the sound of my voice through the sounds of her fists continuously banging against the inside of my Shield Prison, and she could feel a sudden chill in the air all around her. So she was able to quickly and easily put it all together anyway, and gladly welcomed the added challenge. "Bring it on! This is nothing!"

I knew that even my extra defenses wouldn't hold up against Sasha's speed and power for very long, but I knew that before I even cast them. I also knew that Sasha likely wouldn't get caught in the same trap twice, so it was right back to the drawing board for me, as I used every second I had to try and come up with a better method I could use to stall for time. The main problem was that I didn't wanna hurt Sasha at all, which left me with very few options. So I quickly made my upgrade tree appear in my field of vision, and started to look through it as fast as I could, hoping that I had a shield that could help me out with this.

The list of shields Id acquired was very long and varied, so looking through them all in the short time I had was easier said then done for sure. As one might expect, all my usual, go-to shields were no good this time, since I promised both Roxanne and myself that I wouldn't harm Sasha in any way. So I kept on looking through my upgrade tree, until one shield in particular caught my eye, right as I felt both of my Shield Prisons vanish inside my walls of ice, indicating that Sasha had successfully broken through them both. Id never used this particular shield before, so I was rather unsure about making this of all situations its trial run, but its skills did seem like they'd be really useful right about now. So, after mentally hoping that my new strategy was a good one, I equipped my new shield, and braced myself for Sasha's next attack.

I picked a good time to do so too, as Sasha shattered every single wall of ice at the exact moment I raised my shield. She then turned towards me once again, still grinning, and raised her right fist, channeling a very large amount of wind magic into said fist. The magic proceeded to take the form of a small tornado that surrounded Sasha's entire right fist, and half of her right arm, stopping at her right elbow. "Lets see if you can take this Damian! Tornado Fist!" Continuing to display absolutely no fear, Sasha charged straight for me at an incredibly high speed, ready to strike me with her attack as hard as she could.

Once again, I stood my ground, raised my shield, and took the full force of her attack head on. Still, even with my shield up, my heels dug into the ground behind me, and my incredibly high defense, Sasha's attack still hit me like a tornado to the face, even though her fist collided with my shield. I was forced to grit my teeth, and use all my strength just to keep from getting blown away by her strike, both literally and metaphorically in this case, as the wind whipped violently all around the two of us. However, this didn't last very long, as I activated one of the skills of my new shield in response to Sasha's attack. "And lets see if you can take this Sasha! Soul Devour!"

The new shield I had equipped was one that I had acquired immediately after the most recent wave of catastrophe. My Soul Eater Shield. And as soon as I activated one of its skills, all three of its eyes, as well as the green gemstone in my shield started to glow. Not even a second after that, my shield began to increase in size, opening its giant mouth, and lunging straight at Sasha, all while making the same shrieking noises as the monster it was made from.

Even though Sasha had seen the previous shield hero in action many times when she was a child, she'd never seen a shield like this one before, so it managed to catch even her by surprise. "Wait a minute! What's this?!" The hakuko questioned, then immediately used her wind magic, as well as her amazing speed to jump backwards, trying to evade my shield's attack.

However, this wasn't an attack at all. It didn't matter where Sasha ran or jumped, as my Soul Eater Shield swallowed up all the wind from her attack, and continued to chase after her until it finally got what it was after. Letting out another loud shriek, my shield bit down on Sasha's right arm, and sank its huge fangs into her flesh.

At first, both me and Sasha were a little shaken by this, but that quickly came to an end when my shield pulled away from Sasha, returned to normal on my arm, and we both saw that not even a single drop of Sasha's blood had been spilt. "Huh? What the hell just happened? My arm does feel a little numb, but it doesn't hurt at all." Sasha questioned me yet again, looking down at her right arm with a confused look on her face.

I looked just as confused as she did, until my status screen appeared in my field of vision yet again, and informed me that my Soul Eater Shield's Soul Devour skill stole some of Sasha's SP, and added the stolen SP to my own, but didn't cause her any real damage. Needless to say, I was very relieved to see that I didn't end up hurting Sasha in any way, as I let out a sigh of relief, then got my grin back. "You're fine Sasha. This is my Soul Eater Shield, and contrary to the name, it doesn't actually eat souls. When you hit it before, I activated its Soul Devour skill, which stole some of your skill points. Careful. Lose too many, and ya wont be able to use any skills anymore."

As soon as she heard the sound of my voice, Sasha looked at me again, and listened to what I had to say. Once my explanation was over, she grinned right back at me once more, and struck yet another martial arts stance. "I see. Thanks for telling me how it works. All I have to do is avoid hitting your shield, right? Sounds easy enough, so lets give this another try." As her wind magic began to swirl around her yet again, she vanished from sight, and reappeared behind me a split second later, ready to strike. "Tornado Fist!"

Sasha attacked me with the same move as before, but made sure to avoid my shield this time around. Unfortunately for her, I didn't tell her everything that my Soul Eater Shield was capable of.

The female hakuko really thought she had gotten the better of me at that moment, but the reverse turned out to be true once again. Sasha had planned to strike the back of my head with her Tornado Fist, but was both shocked and confused when her attack passed right through me. Like I was a ghost or something. So, after quickly regaining her composure, Sasha jumped away from me just like before, keeping her fists raised, and her eyes locked on me. "Another skill, I presume?"

Before answering her, I turned around, and our eyes met once more. "Correct. As I'm sure you already got, this skill is called Intangibility. As the name implies, it allows me to go intangible for a short time, making it the perfect skill to stall for time, and avoid damage." The "short time" in question was only about thirty seconds, but I purposely avoided telling Sasha that part, and hoped that it would be enough time for Roxanne and Plum to wrap things up on their end.

Even though she didn't know how long I could go intangible for, this information still ended up exciting Sasha far more then she already was, as her grin grew bigger, her wind magic whipped wildly all around her, and some laughter escaped her lips before she gave me a response. "This is interesting! You're interesting Damian Abyss! Slave crest or not, I've never felt this pumped up in my entire life! Keep it comin!" As her heart rate increased from all of her overwhelming excitement, Sasha came at me once again, using her still very impressive speed to run all around me in a large circle.

As it turned out, Sasha's excitement was infectious. I could feel my own excitement growing more and more as she ran around me, but I still made sure to keep my guard, and my shield up. I also chose to keep my Intangibility skill active for as long as I could, knowing that she could strike at me in the blink of an eye, and from any direction. As such, I got myself ready to deflect her next attack with my Soul Eater Shield, but trying to follow her movements was far easier said then done.

And it got even harder about three seconds after that. Sasha started moving so fast, that it looked like six clones of her were now running around me, with all of them grinning right at me. I didn't know it yet, but this was all part of Sasha's strategy to counter my Intangibility. And now that her clones were all set, Sasha began her next assault without missing a beat. "I hope you like ninjas Damian! Jet Shuriken!" Sasha and her clones kicked their right legs at me at super high speed, sending shuriken's made entirely out of wind magic at me from six different directions, and they didn't stop.

With my Intangibility still active, the first volley of Jet Shuriken's went right through me, and missed completely. However, Sasha and her clones kept going, firing volley after volley of Jet Shuriken's at me, waiting for them to start hitting me. As soon as they did, Sasha planned to strike at me with another big attack, giving me absolutely no time to defend or dodge.

As my skill's time began to reach its limit, I lost my grin, and started to grit my teeth yet again. Unlike Motoyasu, Sasha was indeed a worthy opponent who really did a good job of keeping me on my toes, and without any weapons or outside advantages to speak of. Fortunately for me, I could see my skill's timer, but she couldn't. So just before the timer hit zero, I once again called on an old favorite of mine. "Shield Prison!" This time though, I made my Shield Prison appear around myself, already devising my next move in this back and forth that the two of us seemed to have gotten into.

Seeing this, Sasha stopped her assault, and her running, which caused all of her clones to disappear. Never the less, Sasha's grin remained, as she looked at my Shield Prison, and knew right away what its appearance meant. My Intangibility had come to an end, and she could cause me damage again. So, remembering that my shield was currently attached to my right arm, she moved around to the left side of my Shield Prison, took yet another martial arts stance, and began to channel a ton of wind magic into her right fist, planning to break through my Shield Prison with a single punch. Having felt how strong and durable it was earlier, she knew that she could do it if she put enough strength and magic power into her attack. So, once she felt like she had enough, she let it fly. "Tornado Fist!"

"Change Shield!" The second I heard the first sound of Sasha's voice outside my Shield Prison, I activated yet another of my many skills, changing all the shields that made up my Shield Prison into Soul Eater Shields. This way, no matter where Sasha hit my Shield Prison, she'd have to go through my Soul Eater Shield to get to me. Of course, I knew she wouldn't have any trouble breaking through my Shield Prison, but she'd still lose more of her SP to my Soul Eater Shield in the process. "As well as Soul Devour!"

Naturally, Sasha was very surprised by this, but it was far too late for her to do anything about it, as she'd already thrown her punch. Never the less, she didn't let this rattle her, and kept her attack going anyway, with plenty of strength and magic power in it.

As soon as her fist made contact, my Soul Devour skill activated, repeating its actions from earlier. My Soul Eater Shield's eyes started to glow, its mouth opened wide, let out a loud shriek, then bit down on Sasha's arm, stealing some of her SP, and causing her arm to feel a bit numb once again.

Having experienced all of this before as well, Sasha didn't waver, and still managed to punch right through my Shield Prison. My skill began to disappear all around us, but she didn't stop there, and kept her punch going, with her eyes locked on my left shoulder.

All of this took place in the space of five seconds, so I barely had time to use my Change Shield skill, let along turn to block Sasha's attack. That was the one downside to this current strategy of mine. While I was inside my Shield Prison, I was unable to see what Sasha's was doing outside, and therefore, where she would strike from. All I could do was activate my Change Shield skill, brace myself, and trust that my incredibly high defense would allow me to come out of this alive.

Before I even had time to fully process what was happening, Sasha's Tornado Fist made contact with my left shoulder, and I was sent flying to the other side of the courtyard. I hit the ground about a second later, landing on my right side, and sliding across the ground a little. Thankfully, the damage was nothing too bad, but it still made me wince hard, and hold my shoulder as I got back on my feet and turned towards Sasha.

Before saying or doing anything else, both of us took a moment to catch our breath. It was clear that neither of us was even close to our limit, but we both knew that this definitely wouldn't last much longer, so it didn't really matter to either of us.

About thirty seconds after that, Sasha let out another small chuckle, and spoke to me again. "Ya know, I think I'm starting to see what Roxie sees in you. The last shield hero didn't go down easily either. In fact, he kept on fighting to the bitter end against Melromarc's soldiers. All to protect the lives of the demi-humans of Siltvelt. He may have been a human, but he was a good man. And it seems like you are too. Going to all this trouble for just one demi-human."

"Fast Heal." I healed my shoulder as I listened to Sasha's words, once again wondering what the previous shield hero was really like in person. As soon as my shoulder was healed, I gave the hakuko my response, and a smile to go along with it. "Its not just for one demi-human though. Its for you and Roxanne. I know that I'm probably nowhere near the previous shield hero's level yet, but there isn't anything I wouldn't do for my companions. I love each of them dearly, and if I had to, Id gladly put my life on the line to protect an entire kingdom full of demi-humans from this kingdom of idiots."

As she listened to my response, Sasha's grin vanished, as my words really resonated with her, and a smile appeared on her face too. She also couldn't help laughing a bit more at the last thing I said, as she took her martial arts stance once more. "Well, you've got a sharper tongue then the last shield hero. That's for sure. Careful now. I might end up falling for you too Damian."

I let out a few chuckles of my own, then raised my shield, and took another battle ready pose myself. "Funny you should say that Sasha. You see, I'm actually aiming to assemble my very own harem of beautiful inhuman girls. Roxanne and Plum are both part of it, and don't worry. They're both completely okay with it of course."

"Is that right? I never imagined Roxie would agree to be part of someone's harem, but I guess its not that surprising, given that that someone is the shield hero. And a very interesting one at that. Anyway, it seems like we still have some time to kill. So how about another dance Damian?" Without even waiting for my answer, Sasha's wind magic started to swirl around her, and she vanished from sight using her immense speed once again.

That made no difference to me though, as I was more then happy to keep her entertained until her slave crest was gone. "Like you have to ask. I've never been much of a dancer though, so you'll have to forgive me if I accidentally step on your toes Sasha."

Our battle went on from there, as I continued to do everything in my power to stall Sasha for as long as possible, without hurting her of course. I knew that I wouldn't have to keep this up for much longer though, since Roxanne and Plum had been inside Idol's mansion for almost ten minutes by that point, and it definitely wouldn't take them much more time then that to carry out the missions they were given.

X

Meanwhile, inside Idol's mansion, Plum had succeeded in her mission, and was now holding Melty in her arms, keeping her safe, and keeping her head turned away from the scene that was currently playing out between Roxanne and Idol himself. Plum could sense Roxanne's feelings of intense anger and resentment from the other side of the room they were in, and continued to look at her dear friend and teammate with great concern, as more and more dark magical energy appeared from Roxanne's body, and proceeded to slowly swirl around her afterward. The dragon had absolutely no intention of stopping the kitsune from doing what she was about to do though, knowing very well how important this was to her, and that it was the only way we could save Sasha.

It didn't seem like Roxanne noticed the dark energy surrounding her body though, as she kept her glare locked on Idol, and the tip of her flaming sword very close to his neck. Either that, or she did notice, but just didn't care. Roxanne was more angry then she'd ever been in her entire life, and at that moment, there was only one thing on her mind. Completing her mission, and killing the human nobleman in front of her.

All the while, Idol just sat on the ground with his back against the wall, sweating, shaking, and looking up at the kitsune before him with a look of pure terror all over his face. And it definitely didn't help that he could see the dark energy floating around her too. He had no idea what it was, but it was easy to see that it was bad news. "...W-Wait! Wait a moment! I'm not like the other nobles in this kingdom! I swear! Most of the demi-human slaves here are children who lost their families during the first wave! They would've died like dogs if I hadn't taken them in! I saved their lives!" As soon as he mustered up the courage to speak again, Idol immediately tried to convince Roxanne to spare his life once more, doing so in a very frightened and shaky voice.

"Cut the crap!" Naturally, Roxanne didn't buy what he was selling for a second. "You think all demi-humans are stupid and worthless, but we're not! If you truly cared about the lives of the demi-humans you're keeping here, you'd never have enslaved them! You would've taken them somewhere safe instead! Besides, one of your slaves, the hakuko named Sasha, had a happy home with me and my parents long before the first wave hit! But she was taken from us by force, then sold into slavery, and was bought by you!"

"I can only imagine what you've put her through all these years, forcing her to fight and kill for you, even after she'd already done more then her fair share of suffering! You're no savior! You're exactly like the rest of the disgusting, slave driving humans in this kingdom! Ill never forgive you! Ill make you pay dearly for what you've done!" As Roxanne yelled at Idol in a downright furious tone, even more dark energy emerged from her body, adding to the clouds of it that had already formed all around her.

Idol flinched the second Roxanne started yelling at him, as several more beads of sweat rolled down both sides of his face. Before responding, the nobleman got down on his hands and knees, and lowered his head in front of Roxanne. "I'm sorry! You're right! What I did was wrong! If all you want is that one girl, then go ahead and take her! Ill set her free! I swear!"

At first, it did seem like his words were able to appease Roxanne's wrath, as she slowly lowered her sword, and began to calm down a little. However, the dark energy that surrounded her body was still there, and Roxanne's tone had gone from furious, to cold, as she gave the nobleman and all of his pleas for mercy a response. "If lord Damian, the shield hero, were here, he'd say that you're full of shit. And that killing you is far better then any offer you could possibly make us. Because ending your miserable life will not only free Sasha. It'll also spare the rest of the world from ever having to deal with you ever again. One less evil scumbag in the world. Put simply, you die here and now, and nothing you could ever say or do will change my mind."

After hearing all of that, Idol snapped. He'd already gotten down on his hands and knees, bowed before a demi-human, and begged said demi-human to spare his life. All things he would never normally do under any circumstances, and he really hated the fact that Roxanne forced him to do those things. And after hearing that it was all pointless, the nobleman couldn't take it anymore. "You damn demi-human..." Idol started to shake with rage, before getting back on his feet as fast as he could, pulling out the sword that was strapped to his waist, and using it to strike at Roxanne, all while glaring at the albino kitsune. "Curse you! Demi's don't deserve to live! Ill kill you!"

However, Roxanne was completely unfazed by his attack, and quickly used her own sword to block his. Seconds after the two swords clashed, Roxanne's still blazing sword melted right through Idol's sword, causing half of it to fall to the ground, and for the nobleman to lose his balance and stumble forward a little. A little was all Roxanne needed though, as she took advantage of Idol's opening, and stabbed Idol right through the center of his chest with her burning sword. The tip could be seen coming out of Idol's back, as the nobleman gasped and coughed up quite a bit of blood. Roxanne intentionally missed Idol's heart though, and pulled her sword back out of his chest about five seconds after it went in, making the blue flames go out as she did.

As soon as Roxanne's sword was out, Idol dropped what was left of his own sword, and stumbled back towards the wall behind him, as blood started flowing from the scorched wounds on his chest and back. Needless to say, Idol was in extreme pain. He gripped his shirt near his chest wound, winced, then let out a very loud cry of agony. "GAH! It hurts! It burns! My insides are on fire! Damn demi! How dare you do this to me!" He glared at Roxanne again, wanting nothing more then to strike at her again, but all of his weapons were gone, and he was in far too much pain to even attempt such a thing.

Roxanne was still unfazed, as she looked right back at Idol with a cold, dark look in her eyes, and put her sword away. "Killing you with my sword would be far too good for scum like you. Instead, I've got something else in mind." Her tone was still just as cold as the look in her eyes, as even more dark energy emerged from her body. Then, almost like she was in a trance, Roxanne slowly held her right hand out in front of her, towards Idol. After that, all the dark energy began to converge in front of her hand, as Roxanne used her magic power to give it form.

Both Plum and Idol watched this happen, and they were both speechless. Plum had no idea what was going on, but Idol had heard stories of a very rare, and very dangerous magical affinity. Those thoughts frightened the nobleman to his very core, as his entire body begin to shake with a mixture of pain and fear, and his glare changed into an expression of terror and disbelief. He couldn't believe that the demi-human before him was actually using it, but he did know that if this really was what he thought it was, then his death was assured. "...N-No...How is this possible?...It...It cant be real!"

"Oh its very real. I assure you." Roxanne said to Idol, and continued to give the dark energy form. Eventually, all of the dark energy had moved to the front of Roxanne's right hand, and had formed into an orb that was about twice the size of a single balloon monster. "This one's for Sasha. Black Hole!" It was just as Idol feared. Roxanne had gained the power of dark magic. And as soon as she cast her new spell, it began to float towards Idol, sucking in everything around it.

"No! Stop! Please! Don't do this! Ill give you everything I have! Ill free all my slaves! Ill never harm another demi-human for as long as I live!" There was no where Idol could run, and nothing he could do to stop Roxanne's attack. All he could do was keep on begging, and pray that his life would be spared. Unfortunately for him, his prayers went unanswered, as Roxanne's Black Hole soon reached him, and began to suck him in as well.

The spell started by sucking some of the still flowing blood from the nobleman's open wound, but as the seconds went by, the spell's gravitational pull got stronger and stronger. Before Idol could even try to run away, the skin and flesh was being pulled right off of his hands, and his innards were pulled right out of his body through his chest wound. Idol tried his best to fight against it, screaming in pure agony the entire time, as he watched various parts of his body vanish into the Black Hole, but it was no use.

Roxanne's new spell didn't stop, nor did she make any attempts to stop it herself. Roxanne just watched her handy work unfold before her eyes, not at all bothered by how cruel this was.

Plum continued to watch this as well, very shocked, and unable to believe what she was seeing at first. She knew very well that Roxanne hated Idol a lot, but she never imagined any of this would happen. The dragon worried about her dear friend and teammate, hoping that she would still be herself after this, but made no attempts to stop what was happening, and just continued to hold Melty close, and keep the young princess' head turned away from the brutal scene that was currently unfolding.

Still, even though Melty couldn't see what was happening, she could definitely hear it. All of it. And it made the young girl flinch and gasp in shock. Part of her wanted to turn around and see what was happening for herself, but she barely managed to keep herself from doing so, knowing that if Plum didn't want her to look, then it must've been really bad.

Over the course of one minute, Roxanne's Black Hole continued to break down and destroy Idol's body, piece by piece. All the while, Idol himself kept on screaming. The dark magic spell stripped away all the flesh and blood from his arms until only bone remained, doing the same to the rest of Idol's body as well. And just before Idol finally kicked the bucket, he managed to look up at the night sky through one of the windows of the room they were in, and get a few more words out too. "...Oh supreme God...with your divine power...tear the devil of the shield and his damn demi-humans asunder!"

Those were Idol's last words, as a Three Heroes Church pendant flew out of the pocket of his pants, and into the Black Hole. He ended up dying not even two seconds later, as Roxanne's Black Hole ripped his eyeballs right out of his head, followed by the last of his skin, flesh, blood, hair, clothes, and internal organs, leaving only a skeleton behind. However, even that was pulled into the Black Hole immediately after that, and crushed into oblivion just like the rest of Idol Rabier.

Now that the deed was done, Roxanne made her Black Hole vanish, and spoke two more words in her cold, unforgiving tone. "Good riddance." After that, Roxanne let out a deep sigh, fell to one knee, and began to pant a little, feeling rather drained after using her new spell.

With the execution now over, Plum finally let go of Melty, then they both turned towards Roxanne. The dragon and the princess were still a bit worried about the kitsune, but Plum's emotion sensing abilities told her that all of Roxanne's negative emotions were gone. Plum quickly informed Melty of this, then the two of them ran over to Roxanne, and knelt down on either side of her with concerned expressions on their faces. "Roxanne, you okay?" Plum asked her dear friend in a tone that perfectly matched her facial expression, gently placing a claw on her shoulder.

Roxanne took a moment to steady her breathing, then she turned to face Plum, and gave her a smile and a nod. "Yes Plum, I'm fine. Sorry I worried you. That power surprised even me, but it was so strong. I just kind of went with it."

"That was dark magic." A familiar voice suddenly made all three girls turn their heads, revealing that Reichnott was back on his feet. The soldiers that had a hold on him ran off after witnessing Roxanne's new power, as well as their lord's death, leaving Reichnott behind. As such, the kind-hearted nobleman was a free man once again, smiling at the three young ladies, but still sustained some injuries during his captivity, and was now holding his left arm. Never the less, he didn't let that stop him from giving the girls an explanation of Roxanne's new power. "I've heard plenty of stories about it, but this was my first time actually seeing it. Of course, all kitsune and tanuki have an affinity for both light and dark magic, but the level of power that Lady Roxanne has just displayed is very rare. Truly a sight to behold, even if the way she used it was a bit harsh."

Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all listened to Reichnott's explanation, and even though Roxanne disagreed with the part about her methods being "a bit harsh", she still smiled, very happy to have obtained another powerful and rare ability. She remembered the light magic she used against Glass during the most recent wave, then looked down at her hands, making her right hand shine with light magic, and her left hand overflow with dark magic, as she, Plum, and Melty all got back on their feet.

"Reichnott!" Once she was on her feet, Melty ran straight over to her friend. The princess was relieved that he was safe, but also concerned, seeing that he was hurt. "You're hurt. Please hold still. First Aqua Heal." Melty held out her right hand close to Reichnott's injured arm, then cast her strongest healing spell on it.

The magic power from Melty's spell had Reichnott fixed up in no time, as he smiled at the blue haired princess, then at Roxanne and Plum once more. "Lady Roxanne, Lady Plum, I cant thank you and sir shield hero enough for saving my life."

Roxanne and Plum both looked back at the nobleman, and Plum returned his smile almost immediately. Roxanne, on the other hand, lost her smile, and made the light and dark magical energies vanish from her hands before giving Reichnott a response. "Well, you're really important to a lot of demi-humans, so you're welcome. Still, you weren't our priority. My long lost sister Sasha was. Idol bought and enslaved her, but now that that rotten bastard is dead, she's finally free." The albino kitsune turned towards the windows as she spoke about Sasha, and got her smile back right away, knowing that the battle between me and Sasha must've ended by this time, and that Sasha's slave crest was long gone.

And so, after Melty finished healing Reichnott, Roxanne began to lead Plum, Melty, and Reichnott out of Idol's mansion, following the large holes that Plum made in the walls back to the courtyard outside. They all ran as fast as they could, but made sure to stay together as well. Now that Sasha was free, Roxanne was more eager then ever to run up to her long lost sister-at-arms, hug her, and tell her all about her adventures with me and Plum so far.

X

Back outside the mansion, neither me nor Sasha knew exactly what was going on inside the mansion, but as soon as Idol was killed, Sasha suddenly came to a complete stop, her fist mere inches away from my face. At first, I raised an eyebrow at Sasha, wondering why she stopped. However, I already had a pretty good idea of why she did.

My suspicions were quickly confirmed, as I watched Sasha's eyes widen slightly. She also let out a small gasp, and took a few steps back. The hakuko then slowly looked down at her chest, and saw her slave crest glow one last time, before it slowly faded away completely.

Seeing this, I checked out my status screen, and it confirmed that Sasha was no longer a slave. This made me smile instantly, as I spoke to Sasha with a tone of happiness. "Roxanne did it Sasha. Idol's dead, and you're free."

Sasha took another minute to process this, but still listened to my words, then looked at me again once she was finished. Then, without warning, or so much as a word, Sasha vanished from sight once again, using her unparalleled speed to do so.

This surprised and confused me at first, as I lost my smile, and raised an eyebrow. "Sasha?" At first, I had no idea what she was up to, as complete silence fell all around me. I looked all around, but didn't see or hear any signs of the hakuko at all.

Then, a split second later, the silence was broken by the terrified screams of Idol's soldiers. And not just from one spot. In a matter of seconds, the screams could be heard coming from all over Idol's territory.

This turn of events surprised me yet again, and made me jump a little, as I quickly turned in the direction of the mansion's front gate, and ran towards it. As soon as I got to the mansion's main entrance, I looked down at the village surrounding Idol's mansion, and continued to hear the screams of terrified knights. I also noticed a strong wind blowing through the village, and that's when I pieced together what was happening, gaining a new grin upon my face in the process.

All over Idol's territory, the knights who were charged with defending it were dying, one by one. The screams were coming from the knights who witnessed their friends and comrades die without any sort of warning right before their eyes, but most of their screams didn't last long, as they too were killed before they even had a chance to try defending themselves.

The knights all died the same exact ways too. They either got their heads cut off by some kind of cutting attack, or their heads were completely smashed to pieces right off of their bodies, like they were hit in the face with a cannonball. It was all happening so fast that it looked like the wind itself was killing the knights, but I knew what was really going on.

It was all Sasha's doing. Thanks to all the time she'd spent in Idol's territory, she knew exactly where every single knight was posted while on duty, where they lived, and even where they liked to take their breaks. With all of that knowledge in mind, she sped all around Idol's territory at super high speed, and killed off every last knight in and around the village.

Now that she was free, she had ten whole years worth of hell to give them, and she was really letting it all out. She also wanted to make sure that no one would try to stop her from leaving Idol's territory, and although I couldn't tell at the time, Sasha had a big grin on her face through it all. She was really enjoying the carnage, and made absolutely sure not to leave even a single solider alive. However, she did stop for a moment, after she killed the soldiers that were guarding the village's main gate.

The demi-humans from Reichnott's territory were still rioting there, and when the soldiers suddenly got their heads blown off and died, the crowd was very shocked and confused to say the least. Their minds were quickly put at ease though, as Sasha came to a stop, appearing in the place of one of the soldiers, in full view of the entire crowd of demi-humans. The hakuko then gave her fellow demi-humans a smile, a wink, and a wave, assuring them that everything was okay.

Once that was done, Sasha turned away from the crowd, and used her speed to vanish from sight once again. Still, her method worked, as the crowd of demi-humans went from rioting to cheering almost immediately after seeing what they saw. The hakuko race may have been removed from power in Siltvelt, but to most demi-humans, it was still very encouraging to see one alive, well, and lending a helping hand to their fellow demi-humans.

With that, Sasha continued her assault on the knights of Idol's territory for the next twenty seconds, until the final knight's headless body was on the ground, laying in a pool of its own blood. Now that that was done, Sasha returned to the mansion's courtyard, appearing before me once again. She took a moment to catch her breath, but never stopped grinning even once, feeling extremely satisfied after everything she'd just done. "Damn that felt good."

As soon as I heard the sound of Sasha's voice, I turned to face her once again, and proceeded to walk over to her, very impressed by her handy work, as another thought quickly crossed my mind. "You were holding back on me during our fight." I said to Sasha in a knowing tone, even though I already kinda figured that out during our battle.

"So what if I was? My former idiotic master just said that I had to kill any and all intruders. He never said I had to do it quickly, or use all my power to do so. Like you said, the stupid human should've been more specific. Besides, I could say the same thing about you Damian. You may not be as powerful as the previous shield hero just yet, but I know you can do better then what I saw during our battle." Sasha responded to my words with a knowing tone of her own, grinning right at me as she did.

"Well, I did promise Roxanne that I wouldn't hurt you in any way. So I avoided using any of my offensive skills. Sorry if that disappoints you at all Sasha." I said to her with a smile on my face, already able to tell from our short confrontation that Sasha was definitely the kind of person who enjoyed a good fight.

"Its fine. The last thing I want is to make Roxie worry any more then she already has about me over the past ten years. Still, not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind having a real battle with you sometime Damian." Sasha admitted to me, then moved closer to me, gently placed on finger on my chest, and slowly dragged it down, before speaking to me again, but in a more playful and alluring tone this time. "So how 'bout it? Think you can give me a good fight? Or will you hold back because I'm a girl?"

Sasha's actions caused a small blush to appear on my face, but I managed to keep my cool, as well as my smile. Before responding, I grabbed onto her hand with one of my own, and gripped it with a good amount of my strength to show her that I was serious. "I wont lie, you are very attractive, but when I'm in a battle, gender doesn't influence my judgement in the slightest. I believe both genders are equal, and that its not right for one gender to get special treatment. Besides, its easy to see that you're just as tough, if not tougher, then any male human or demi-human, especially three male humans that I have the misfortune of knowing." I thought about the three cardinal stooges for a moment, then quickly refocused my attention on the beautiful female hakuko in front of me. "Anyway, I don't enjoy fighting inhuman opponents, but if that's really what you want, and its just for fun, then I suppose we could give it a go sometime."

Both my actions and my answer made Sasha grin at me once more, as she gripped my hand back, using just as much strength as I was. "Good answer. Things like chivalry are nice and all, but if there's one thing I hate, its when someone pulls their punches against me simply because of my gender. In fact, it really pisses me off."

"Considering the fact that you just brutally murdered an entire town's worth of knights in less then two minutes, Ill definitely remember never to get on your bad side Sasha. Its really not hard to see that this kitty has got some very sharp claws." I said to her with a smirk on my face, unable to resist the urge to call her that just one more time.

In response to my words, Sasha returned my smirk, then gripped my hand even tighter. Feeling this, I quickly matched her strength, and the two of us ended up doing this for a full minute before finally letting go of each other's hand. "Anyway, I really do appreciate you, Roxie, and Plum coming all this way just to save me. Thanks a lot Damian." Sasha said to me in a very grateful tone, with a matching smile spread across her face.

Seeing this, I smiled right back at her, and gave her my next response. "We were all more then happy to do it Sasha. You're really important to Roxanne, so that makes you important to me and Plum too. In this party, there isn't anything we wouldn't do for each other."

"You don't say. If that's the case, then I think I might be interested in-" Sasha started to say to me, but then she suddenly started coughing violently without any sort of warning, falling to her knees, and covering her mouth with one hand as well. However, even with her mouth covered, she still ended up coughing up some blood.

As soon as I saw this, I lost my smile, and began to worry about her right away. "Oh no! Sasha!" I quickly ran over to her side, and knelt down next to her, using my status screen to check her condition. Just as I thought, my status screen revealed that she was sick. Very sick. _"She was suffering from symptoms like these the whole time? She must've been in constant pain, but look what she did." _I thought to myself, keeping in mind that Sasha was still able to have a mock battle against me, then kill every single knight in Idol's territory immediately after. I didn't think it was possible, but I was both concerned and impressed at the same time at that moment. To say that Sasha was strong was an understatement.

Still, I kept myself focused on the matter at hand, switching over to my Book Shield, and reaching into my bag for some medicine. Despite how bad Sasha's illness was, I knew I could take care of it pretty easily. "Here Sasha. Drink this. Ill explain later, but it'll help you a lot more if I give it to you myself." I told her, holding the bottle of medicine right in front of her face, and using my free hand to gently rub her back.

After another ten seconds of coughing, Sasha finally managed to stop, getting it under control. She then wiped the blood from her mouth, and turned to look at me again, listening to what I had to say. Then, without any arguments or resistance, Sasha opened her mouth, and allowed me to slowly pour the medicine into it. She made sure to drink it all down, and as she did, the green gemstone on my shield began to glow. The glow spread from the gemstone, to the medicine, then to Sasha's entire body, as she felt the pain slowly, but surely fading away.

I checked my status screen again, and smiled at what I saw, very happy and relieved that it was working so well. "Fast Heal." I also added my Fast Heal spell into the mix to seal the deal, as my hand on Sasha's back began to glow with magic power too. After a full minute, the bottle was empty, and I slowly pulled my hands away from Sasha. "There. Thank Lucifer I have an affinity for healing magic. How do ya feel now Sasha?"

The hakuko breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at me again, and smiled. "Much better. Thanks Damian. I guess I owe you another one." The two of us got back on our feet after that, but Sasha's treatment was done just yet, as another matter suddenly made itself known to me. Immediately after we stood back up, Sasha's stomach started growling, which made her blush a little. "Oh yeah...I hate to ask for more, but do you have any food on you Damian? As I'm sure you just heard, I'm really hungry. Idol, the greedy prick, barely fed me and the other demi-human slaves. And even when he did, the food, if you could even call it that, was all kinds of nasty."

Before anything else, I couldn't help laughing a bit at Sasha's reaction after her stomach growled, but I still listened to her every word, and gave her a nod once she was finished speaking. "No sweat Sasha. Me and Roxanne figured you'd be hungry when we found you, so Roxanne went ahead and made plenty of food for you before we got here. Sorry its probably not hot anymore, but Roxanne's cooking should still be delicious none the less." I informed Sasha, put the empty medicine bottle back in my bag, and pulled out a set of containers which held Roxanne's cooking, some silver wear for Sasha to eat it with, and a full bottle of water for her to wash it all down with.

Seeing all of this, Sasha let out a small gasp, licked her lips, then quickly took it all from me, opened the first container, and dug right in like she hadn't eaten in days, which was actually fairly accurate. As she ate, Sasha felt a feeling of nostalgia wash over her. Roxanne learned how to cook from her mother, so her cooking tasted exactly the same. And since Sasha used to live with Roxanne and her parents, she got to enjoy this cooking everyday before she was captured, and getting to finally enjoy it again was a feeling that the hakuko really missed.

I smiled at Sasha again as I watched her enjoy her meal, knowing that this was probably she first decent meal she's had in years. Still, that also got me thinking. According to my status screen, Sasha's illness was likely caused by something she ate. I didn't even need to see it to know that the "food" Idol gave his slaves was incredibly foul, but to me at least, it felt like there had to be more to it then just that to have made Sasha as sick as she was.

I didn't get much time to ponder this though, as Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott all ran out of the mansion and into the courtyard about a minute after that. "Lord Damian! Sasha!" Roxanne called out to the two of us with a big smile on her face, as she and the rest of our allies ran straight for us.

Hearing this, me and Sasha both turned towards them, and since Sasha was still eating, I was the one who waved to all of them, and responded to Roxanne's calls. "Hey girls! And Reichnott! I'm glad to see you all made it out okay!" I said to them, even though I still didn't fully trust Reichnott. Still, I knew that he was important to Melty, so I was glad that he was okay too.

Roxanne ran right up to me and Sasha, wrapped one arm around each of us, and pulled the two of us into a big hug. "Lord Damian, you kept your promise. I knew you would. And Sasha, I've missed you so much. We have a lot of checking up to do. I'm so glad the two of you are okay. I love you both so much." The kitsune spoke to us in a very heartfelt tone, as a few tears of joy escaped her eyes.

Naturally, me and Sasha both smiled at Roxanne, and wrapped one arm around her each. I also used my status screen to check Roxanne's stats out, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that she'd gained another new spell. "We love you too Roxanne. Ya did a really great job today. As always, you're one amazing demi-human."

Sasha nodded in full agreement with my words, careful not to drop her meal as she spoke to Roxanne after I did. "You really saved me today Roxie. Thanks sis. I only wish I could've been there to see that scumbag Idol's final moments with my own eyes."

Our words made Roxanne even happier then she already was, as Plum, Melty, and Reichnott all looked on with smiled on their faces, very touched by the scene that was playing out before their eyes. "A living hakuko. I don't believe it. This is truly wonderful. I was beginning to fear that the hakuko race was extinct." Reichnott commented, looking right at Sasha with a mixture of amazement and relief in his voice.

Me, Roxanne, and Sasha pulled apart about a minute after that, and Reichnott's words caused Sasha to turn towards him, Plum, and Melty. The second she did, Sasha's eyes narrowed into a glare, and that glare was locked onto the princess and the nobleman, as a small growl escaped Sasha's lips. "Roxie, would you care to explain to me what these two humans are doing here?"

Seeing Sasha's reaction, and hearing her words, Roxanne flinched slightly, but remained calm, as she quickly moved herself between Sasha and the two humans. "Sasha, before you do anything rash, these two are Melty and Reichnott. Yes, they're both human, Melty is Aultcray's daughter, and Reichnott is a nobleman of Melromarc. I didn't trust either of them at first either, but Melty has proven that she's nothing like her father, and Reichnott manages a town where demi-humans live free, happy lives, and care for him deeply. They're both okay humans, and are on our side. Understand?"

Sasha listened to what Roxanne had to say, then slowly calmed herself down, her facial expression softening. If there was one person Sasha hated more then anyone else in this world, it was Aultcray, but the hakuko knew better then to blame a child for the actions of her father. She also remembered all the demi-humans that were rioting at the front gate of Idol's territory, and quickly deduced that they must be here to save Reichnott. Sasha knew that if so many demi-humans were going this far for him, then Reichnott really must be an okay human. So, with all of that in mind, Sasha gave Roxanne a nod, deciding not to harm the princess or the nobleman.

Seeing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief, then Melty smiled at Sasha once again. "Its a pleasure to finally meet you Sasha. Roxanne has spoken very highly of you. As you've just heard, my name is Melty Q Melromarc. I hope we can be-" Melty gave Sasha a bow, then began her introduction, proceeding to take a few steps towards Sasha as she did. However, the princess was stopped cold, as Sasha suddenly stomped her foot on the ground, causing Melty to flinch, lose her smile, and take a few steps back.

"If Roxie says that you're okay, then I believe her, but Id appreciate it if you kept your distance and didn't talk to me for now. Okay?" Sasha said to Melty in a serious, and slightly angered tone, shooting the princess one more small glare as she spoke. It was clear that Sasha's hatred for humans ran deep. Far deeper then it did for me and Roxanne.

Melty listened to Sasha's words, and looked right into her eyes as she spoke, seeing very clearly that making friends with her was gonna take time. Even so, Melty understood the reasons for Sasha's attitude very well, so the princess didn't hold it against her. Melty simply gave Sasha an apologetic bow, and remained silent for the time being, but was still relieved that none of us were harmed or worse as a result of this rescue mission.

With that, Sasha calmed herself back down once again, then we all filled each other in on what happened inside the mansion, and what happened outside it. Naturally, Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott were all extremely surprised to learn that Sasha killed every single knight in Idol's territory upon being freed from her slave crest. Likewise, me and Sasha were rather surprised when we found out how Roxanne did away with Idol, and what happened to her up to that point. We both asked her if she was really okay, and Roxanne assured us that she was fine. A fact which my status screen confirmed for me.

So, since there didn't appear to be any enemies left to fight in Idol's territory, and Sasha still had a meal to finish, we all decided to stay where we were, and take a break for a few minutes before moving on. With that, Plum used her earth magic to make us some stone chairs to sit on. We all thanked Plum for this, then sat down, and Sasha continued to enjoy her meal, thanking Roxanne for it. As Sasha ate, me, Roxanne, and Plum told her all about the adventures we've had so far, from the moment I arrived in this new world, right up to our arrival in Idol's territory. The female hakuko listened to our stories very intently, enjoying them even more then her meal, as did Melty and Reichnott. Sure, our stories had plenty of moments that were anything but good, but pretty soon, all six of us were smiling again, really enjoying and appreciating this time of peace, even if it wasn't very long.

As luck would have it, we finished our stories right as Sasha finished her dinner. And now that the hakuko was satisfied, it was time for us to proceed with the next phase of our rescue mission. So we all got up from our stone chairs, I put the containers that held Sasha's food back into my bag, then all six of us walked over to the stairs that lead down into Idol's dungeon, where we knew that other, former demi-human slaves were being kept.

According to Sasha, there were three other demi-humans in the dungeon with her when she came up to confront us. However, even though all three of them were now freed from their slave crests, they were all children, and far too weak from hunger, as well as all manner of torture, to break free from their chains and cells on their own. There was no way in hell that we were just gonna leave them behind, even if they weren't technically Sasha's friends.

Before heading down into the dungeon, Roxanne gently placed a hand on Sasha's shoulder, and looked at her with concern. "Sasha, you don't have to go back down there with us if you don't want to. You can just stay up here and wait for us if that would be easier for you."

Sasha glanced at Roxanne after that, giving her a small smile, then faced the path to the dungeon with mixture of determination and unease all over her face. "I appreciate your concern Roxie, but Ill be fine. After spending over five years of my life in this hell hole, I've grown pretty numb to it by now. Besides, there's something down there that I need to deal with, and if all of you are gonna hear about it, then I want you to hear it all from me. So lets go, and just get this over with."

With that, Sasha kept her head down, and began to walk down the steps that lead to the dungeon, as we all followed close behind here. None of us were sure what Sasha was talking about, but based on the emotions that Plum was sensing from her, and the expression we could all see on Plum's face as a result, it must've been something really bad. Even so, none of us said a word, not wanting to make things any harder for Sasha then they already were, as we all continued to follow her into the darkness of the dungeon.

X

The first thing Sasha did when we made it to the bottom of the stairs was kick the door open, literally, sending it flying all the way to the other end of the dungeon's main hallway. This demonstrated very clearly that simply setting foot in this place irritated Sasha at least a little bit. Never the less, Sasha maintained her composure, and pushed forward, as the rest of us continued to follow her lead.

All of us looked around as we walked down the dungeon's main hallway, and straight away, we all noticed that this place had a thick veil of hopelessness all around it. It wasn't hard for us to imagine what horrible, unspeakable things must've taken place here over the years, and those thoughts alone were more then enough to make both my and Roxanne's anger start to rise, as our eyes narrowed into glares of complete and total disgust.

At the same time, Melty walked with one hand over her mouth, as feelings of guilt and distress quickly enveloped her. The blue haired girl's stomach was in knots, but she stayed strong, never said a word, and kept up with the rest of us.

Thankfully, she didn't have to say anything for Plum to notice how she was feeling. And as soon as she did, the dragon gently placed her claws on Melty's shoulders from behind, held her close, and gave her a reassuring smile as they walked, once again doing her best to comfort the young princess.

Feeling and seeing all of this, Melty gently placed her hands over Plum's claws, and returned her smile with one of her own. Once again, Melty found herself being comforted by a dragon, rather then a filolial. It was a little strange for the young filolial lover, but after just one look at Plum's smiling face, any feeling of discomfort or distress was gone.

After about thirty seconds of walking, Sasha suddenly came to a stop, then turned towards the cell on her right side. The cell was empty, but the inside was covered from top to bottom with claw marks. Big ones, that looked like the claw marks of a tiger. Just looking into the cell made Sasha grit her teeth, before reaching out, grabbing onto some of the bars, and gripping them so hard that they bent almost immediately.

Upon seeing this, I realized right away why Sasha was reacting the way that she was, and gently placed my right hand on her right shoulder from behind, then spoke to her in a comforting tone of voice. "This cell was yours, wasn't it?"

The hakuko started to calm down the moment she felt my touch and heard my voice, then nodded slowly before answering me, but didn't turn to look at me as she did. "...Yes. It was never locked though. Idol simply ordered me to stay here until I sensed an intruder, or until he or his men called me, then return to the dungeon once the job he had for me was done. Of course, since my cell was never locked, I was free to roam around the dungeon if I chose to, but as I'm sure you can imagine, there wasn't a whole lot to do down here. Plus, thanks to that damn curse placed on me, and all the other demi-human slaves, trying to leave the dungeon and sneak out of Idol's territory was completely out of the question."

Me, Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott all listened to Sasha's words with mixed expressions of frustration and sorrow upon our faces. Not a single one of us could even imagine how difficult life must've been for Sasha during the past five years, and we all found ourselves wishing that something could've been done about it sooner.

Sasha didn't even need to turn towards us to tell how we were feeling, as she let out a sigh, then let go of the bars of her old cell. "You guys are sweet, but I'm fine. This isn't the thing that I had to deal with down here. We'll get to that in a little bit, but right now, lets just focus on saving the other demi-humans that are trapped here. Their cells are over here." Sasha turned back down the hall, and began to once again lead us to the cells of her fellow, formerly enslaved demi-humans.

"If you say so Sasha." I responded to her words, then the rest of us quickly followed her lead once again, still wondering what exactly it was that had Sasha so troubled.

It didn't take us very long to find all three of the trapped demi-humans, and straight away, we all saw that they were in far worse shape then Sasha was when she first appeared before me, Roxanne, and Plum in the courtyard. Each of the young demi-humans were dressed in filthy, tattered rags, chained to the walls of their own individual cells, covered from head to toe in dirt, cuts, and bruises, looked extremely malnourished, and to top it all off, their eyes had absolutely no luster to be found. They didn't even have the energy, nor the desire to speak, and they could barely move. In short, they were barely clinging to life.

Naturally, this was not a very pleasant sight for any of us, but we didn't like that bother us, and got straight to work on saving the lives of the three surviving demi-human children. Fortunately, even after treating and feeding Sasha, I still had plenty of food, medicine, and other supplies in my bag that we could give them.

Once again making use of her incredible speed and power, Sasha shattered the locks on all three of their cell doors in a split second. After that, Plum used her own immense strength to break the shackles right off of their wrists and ankles, making sure not to hurt them of course. I then equipped my Book Shield again, and gave each of the demi-human kids a bottle of my medicine, helping them drink it down nice and slowly. Additionally, me and Melty both used our healing magic to heal each and every one of their wounds. And finally, Roxanne mashed up the food that we had for them so they wouldn't have to chew it, then fed all three of them herself, with a friendly smile on her face.

Pretty soon, all three of the children were looking and feeling much better, and thanked us for saving them. It was then that we were finally able to tell what races of demi-humans they were as well. The first child was a female dog type demi-human, the second was a male dog-type demi-human, and the third was a female cat type demi-human.

Because of all her time spent in Idol's territory, Sasha knew each of the demi-human children by name, but she was by no means friends with any of them. In fact, Sasha never really talked to any of the other demi-human slaves over the years. It wasn't because she didn't care about them, or anything like that. It was mostly because she didn't wanna risk getting too friendly or emotionally attached to any of them, since she'd seen dozens of demi-humans die of starvation, illness, and even blood loss at one point, during her five or so years of time spent in Idol's territory. Sasha never lost hope that she'd make it out of that living nightmare alive one day, but she didn't know if any of the other demi-human slaves would, so she kept her distance from every last one of them. Both physically and emotionally.

All of the kids sure knew me though, or at least my shield. One look at it, and they knew right away that I was the shield hero. Needless to say, that got them all pretty excited, since they'd all heard the stories about the shield hero and all. It was just like Roxanne told me when we first started traveling together. Every young demi-human dreams of one day meeting, and even teaming up with the shield hero.

I was very flattered by the all the admiration I was getting from the three young demi-humans, and gently rubbed each of them on top of their heads, smiling at them the whole time. However, for the first time since my arrival in this world, I decided not to do my whole demon lord introduction for these kids. Since they were all still very young, impressionable, and had just been freed from what I was sure was an extremely traumatic experience, I didn't wanna risk doing anything that might end up damaging their spirits any more then they already had been. I also kept in mind that I wasn't the shield hero they'd heard about in the stories they were told. It was the shield hero that came before me. And then, it was at that very moment, that something began to weigh heavily on my mind as well, causing me to lose my smile, in favor of a more conflicted facial expression.

However, that expression didn't last long, as Sasha suddenly regained everyone's attention, clearing her throat before speaking up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but now that the children are safe, there's one more thing I need you all to see. The children already know about it, but I suggest the rest of you brace yourselves. Follow me." The hakuko once again turned, and began to lead all of us further down the dungeon's main passage way. And as she did this, we also noticed that even though Sasha told us to brace ourselves, her facial expression and tone made it seem like she was the one bracing herself for some reason.

None of us were sure what we were about to see, but we knew that it must be something truly horrific if it has someone like Sasha rattled. At the mere mention of it, all three of the demi-human children proceeded to hide behind us, looking almost as uneasy as Sasha did. Given the things we'd already seen in this dungeon, we didn't think anything else could be much worse then what we'd already seen, but we were wrong. Dead wrong.

After about thirty more seconds of walking, Sasha once again came to a complete stop. She then took a deep breath, turned to face us, and pointed to the cell on her right. "In there. Take a good look, and see what the actions of the humans in this kingdom have done."

Me, Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott braced ourselves just as Sasha told us to, then we all approached the cell, and looked inside. It was a bit hard to tell at first, since it was so dark, but the second our eyes adjusted to it, they all widened with pure shock and horror instantly, as we all felt the breath leave our lungs for a moment. None of us could believe what we saw at first, but it was real. Very real. There was absolutely no denying it.

Inside the cell in front of us were dead bodies. Dozens of them. Based on the dirty and tattered clothing the bodies had on, they were all the remains of demi-human slaves. And based on the sizes of the bodies, they were all children when they died. There wasn't a single piece of meat left on any of the bodies either. They had all been stripped right down to their bones, and from the looks of some of the bones, some of the bodies had been this state for years.

"...Oh my Lucifer. What the hell happened here?" I was the first one of us to speak up after seeing this, able to regain my composure after a good minute and thirty seconds of processing the sight of the makeshift mortuary before us.

The next one of us to speak up was Roxanne, but she did so after clenching her fists so hard that they started to shake, and getting an expression of pure rage upon her face, with a tone of voice to match. "Rgh...Idol...That evil son of a bitch...So many demi-human lives wiped out at such young ages...There truly is no limit to the cruelty of humans."

After listening to Roxanne's words, Sasha hesitated a bit at first, clenching her own fists, but was still able to get the words that she was holding inside out. "...Its true that all of these demi-human children lost their lives because of Idol. Starvation, illness, and injuries sustained from that bastard's various methods of torture, but...there's a little more to it then that Roxie."

Upon hearing this, all of us turned to look at Sasha once more. Straight away, Roxanne, Melty, and Reichnott looked rather confused, wondering what Sasha meant by that last part.

However, me and Plum had information and skills that the three of them didn't, so the two of us managed to put it together after just two minutes. I thought back to what my status screen showed me regarding Sasha's health before I cured her, and Plum was currently sensing a great deal of guilt coming from the hakuko. Plum still looked a little confused, tilting her head slightly, with a concerned and confused expression on her face, but I was able to piece it together, though I wished I was wrong.

So, rather then say it out loud myself, I remained as calm as I could, took a step towards Sasha, and tried my best to help ease her into explaining it herself. "I get it now Sasha. This explains how you stayed alive in this hell hole for over five years, and how you were able to keep your muscles so well developed during all that time too. You may be a hakuko, one of the four great demi-human races of this world, but you were still just a kid when you were brought here. No child could last long in conditions like these. Not even a hakuko. Unless they did something drastic."

Everyone else listened to my words, but still didn't quite get it at first. But then, after another minute of thinking it over, the answer finally became clear to Roxanne and Reichnott, as they both looked at Sasha with expressions of pure shock again. Some tears began to appear in Roxanne's eyes not long after that, and she slowly brought one hand up to her mouth. "...Sasha...did you...?"

One look into Roxanne's eyes, and Sasha looked away immediately, seeing that the kitsune had figured it all out. So Sasha grit her teeth, and punched the wall before responding, leaving several cracks in it as a result. "...I wish I could say no, but its true Roxie. I may not have killed all those demi-human children...but I did eat them. I ate all the meat right off their dead bodies."

As soon as they heard it out loud, Plum and Melty looked like they'd just been struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, with their mouths agape, and their eyes wider then ever. All of Sasha's guilt finally became clear to Plum, and the other emotions she was sensing from the hakuko weren't any better, so she stayed quiet for now, and gently wrapped her arms around Melty once more.

Silence fell over our group for another three minutes after that, until Sasha finally broke it again, but still refused to look at any of us, as she gave us an explanation. "Please believe me Roxie, I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice. For five years, Idol used me as his own personal guard dog and executioner. I knew that if I didn't stay fit and strong, I wouldn't even be able to kill a balloon, much less any and all intruders that set foot on his land. So I trained my mind, body, and magic every single day, but the food Idol gave us to eat wasn't nearly enough to keep my strength up. Not with all the training and killing I had to do. I needed more food. Any other food. Otherwise, I would've eventually collapsed from exhaustion, been tortured to death for not being able to do the job he told me to do, or been killed by an intruder."

"Since my cell was never actually locked, I considered stealing food from the other slaves, but I didn't want to be the one who caused their deaths. Eventually, I grew desperate, and that's when I saw the first of my fellow demi-human slaves finally fall to the ground and die. That's when I got the idea. I thought long and hard about it, and eventually realized that there was no other solution. I had to survive until the day I knew you'd come for me Roxie. So, from then on, every single time one of my fellow slaves finally bit the dust, I closed my eyes, and ate the food that was in front of me. I may not have been the one who killed them, but it never got any easier. I was always disgusted with myself for what Id done. I'm truly sorry." Sasha finished her explanation, then closed her eyes, as a few tears proceeded to roll down the sides of her face.

All of us listened to Sasha's explanation, looking right at her, as our facial expressions went from shocked to concerned, sad, and mildly frustrated very quickly. Just then, Roxanne started to walk right over to Sasha without saying a word. Once the kitsune reached her long lost sister-at-arms, she wrapped her arms around her, and pulled her into a tight, loving hug. "Its not your fault Sasha. I don't blame you even for a second. If our roles were reversed, I might've done the same exact thing as you did. Its a tragedy that so many demi-human lives were lost here before we finally found you, but at least their lives weren't for nothing. They kept you alive, and now that we're together again, we can make sure that the one whose really responsible for all of this pays dearly for it. Aultcray Melromarc."

It was then that Sasha finally turned to face her dear sister, rather surprised by her words and actions. She thought for sure that Roxanne would be at least a little disgusted with her for what she'd done, but as the reality slowly sunk in, she stopped crying all together, and slowly hugged Roxanne back. "...Thank you Roxie. You're absolutely right. In fact, I've waited a very long time to finally get my revenge, and kill that scumbag. Which is why I've decided to follow you and join your party."

Sasha's words made me, Roxanne, and Plum smile instantly, as the option to add Sasha to our party appeared on my status screen. As anyone would expect, I said yes, causing Sasha's name, level, and status bars to appear on the left side of my status screen, right under Plum's info.

"Sasha, big sis, this is so great! Our dream is finally a reality! The two of us are adventurers in a party with the shield hero!" Roxanne said to Sasha with a big smile on her face, and tons of enthusiasm in her voice, unable to hold it in.

The female hakuko quickly dried her tears, smiled right back at her dear sister, and gave her a nod. "I always knew we'd make our dream come true someday Roxie." Sasha then let go of Roxanne, and turned to face me and Plum, giving us a smile too. "My power is yours. I swear I will never let you down. And one day, I hope we can grow as close as me and Roxie are."

Me and Plum smiled right back at her, as Plum gave her a response in a very friendly tone. "Id like that Sasha. Thanks. Any friend of Roxanne's is a friend of ours."

I nodded in full agreement with Plum's words, then remembered something else, and reached into my bag one more time. "Its awesome to have you with us Sasha, and now that you are, we have a gift for you." I told Sasha, then pulled the gauntlets that we asked Erhard to make for her out of my bag, and held them out to her. "Here. Before we left the capital city, we had a blacksmith we know make these for you. He's a human, but he's okay, and he's really good at what he does. He made Roxanne's sword too, and these gauntlets are made of magic steel, just like Roxanne's sword."

As soon as she saw the gauntlets, Sasha's eyes lit up. She was quick to accept them from me, and put them on even quicker. After that, Sasha punched the same wall she punched earlier, using less of her strength this time. However, with her new weapon equipped, the wall still crumbled none the less, making Sasha grin, as she blew the dust off of the gauntlet she'd used to do the deed. "Yes. These'll do nicely. Thank you all once again. I cant wait to bust some heads with these little beauties."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum were all pleased to see that Sasha liked her new weapons, but then Melty turned back towards all the demi-human bones in the cell beside us, and recaptured everyone's attention when she commented on them with some disbelief in her voice. "I'm glad we were able to find and save Sasha, but still, now that I'm actually seeing an example of it with my own eyes, I cant believe that such monstrous deeds could exist here in Melromarc."

"Melty, as much as I hate to say it, things like this have been happening all across this country for over ten years now. Ever since your father, King Aultcray, declared war on the kingdom of Siltvelt. That is why we needed Seaetto. Your mother, Queen Mirellia, placed him in charge of this kingdom before her departure, but after his unfortunate death, King Aultcray regained control over this land." Reichnott explained to the princess in a calm and collected tone, while the rest of us listened, not at all surprised by the things we'd heard.

Melty was a little surprised at first, but then she remembered everything her mother told her before she left her to return to Melromarc, as well as everything me and Roxanne told her about her father's history. The blue haired girl then took another look at the remains of the demi-human children in the cell before her, and realized that there was no denying it anymore. Any doubts she had left were gone, as she slowly looked down with a very sad look in her eyes. Her father was a truly horrible man who didn't give two shits about demi-humans, and went out of his way to make them suffer. Children or not.

Me and my three companions all turned towards the princess, and looked at her with mixed emotions, ranging from concern to frustration. "Oh Melty..." Plum commented on Melty's current stated, sensing all of her emotions, and growing far more concerned then she'd ever been about the princess, but wasn't sure what she could possibly say to her at that moment.

Sasha seemed to have a few ideas though, as she walked right up to the blue haired girl, much to our surprise. The hakuko stood in front of the princess, looked down at her, then spoke to her a very blunt tone. "I was there ya know. When Melromarc's forces invaded Siltvelt on your father's orders. I was a bit younger then you are at the time, and I didn't know what was going on at first, but I knew that it was anything but good. I was picking up some food from the market on my mother's request when Melromarc's army arrived, so I was on my own when the carnage began. As soon as the fighting started, and I heard everyone screaming, I was so scared. So I did what any child would do in a situation like that. I started running back home as fast as I could, but back then, I wasn't nearly as fast as I am now."

The female hakuko clenched her fists before continuing her story, trying not to let it show how painful these memories were for her. "Upon reaching my home, I was shocked to find that my father was already dead, and my mother was dying. They'd been attacked by adventurers from Melromarc, and had lived peaceful lives up to that point, so they didn't have much experience when it came to fighting. I never cried that much in my entire life since that day, and with her dying breath, my mother told me to find our leader, assuring me that he would keep me safe. Siltvelt's leader was a very good man who cared deeply about his people, and was also head of the hakuko race. I didn't know him very well, but his name was Tyran, and I knew exactly where to find him. So once again, I ran as quickly as I could, doing my best to avoid all the fighting that was going on around me."

"Unfortunately, Aultcray found Tyran before I did. Tyran was surrounded on all sides by knights and adventurers from Melromarc, but like a true hakuko, he didn't back down or show fear. He fought with everything he had, as more and more soldiers from Melromarc appeared, but none of them managed to land a decisive blow on him. That is, until Aultcray noticed me watching from a nearby alleyway. Even though I was just a defenseless child, Aultcray fired an extremely powerful spell right at me. I thought I was done for, but then, using his own amazing speed, Tyran protected me, using his own body as a shield. I was unharmed, but he hurt badly, while Aultcray just laughed at his handy work."

"Tyran then told me to run away, leave Siltvelt, grow strong, and avenge my fallen hakuko brethren one day. He also told me that Aultcray had come to wipe out the entire hakuko race, and that as long as I survived, our race would live on. I didn't want to leave him, or my home...but Tyran was firm, and continued to fight to cover my escape, ignoring his injuries. My entire world was falling apart all around me, but I didn't want to let my people down. So, with tears in my eyes, I turned, and ran once more, leaving Siltvelt behind. Once I was out of the city, I looked back just one more time, but then kept going. I cried and ran for hours, and eventually stowed away in the back of a carriage, then continued to walk on my own after it took me off of Siltvelt's land. I eventually arrived at Rurorona Village, Roxie's home, where I ended up living for the next several years after that." Sasha finally finished her tale, unable to prevent a few small tears from escaping her eyes as she spoke.

Naturally, me, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott were all more then a little surprised by Sasha's story. We all knew that in that war, Tyran, the previous shield hero, and many demi-humans lost their lives, and that the hakuko race was nearly wiped out as a result of said war. However, none of us had ever heard this version of the story before, and it was a real kicker.

Roxanne wasn't at all surprised by it though, having heard all of this before from Sasha back when they used to live together in Rurorona Village. Even so, hearing it again wasn't easy, as she quickly found herself gritting her teeth in frustration and anger.

All of this made Melty look up at Sasha, who was still standing right in front of her and looking down at her, but Melty wasn't sure what to say or do at all. Sasha's story did help the princess in two different ways though. One, it helped to understand the reasons behind Sasha's hatred for humans a little more. And two, it helped her comprehend just how horrible, and beyond redemption her father was.

After that, it was once again my turn to break the silence. "On that note, I have a question for you Sasha. We all agreed that once we found you, and got you to join our party, we'd let you decide what we do next. We have two options. One, we head for the border, fight our way out of this kingdom, and head for Siltvelt. Or two, we fight our way back to Melromarc's capital city, find the queen, Melty's mother, and get her to help us out. We'll end up fighting for our lives either way, but its your call Sasha. So what are we gonna do?"

Sasha turned back to me the moment I opened my mouth, and she listened to my every word very intently. Once I was done speaking, she narrowed her eyes into a glare, and gave me her answer with incredible determination in her voice. "I do wish to return to my homeland one day, but I cant go back just yet. Not until I've avenged my fallen hakuko brethren. So there's only one real option for me. We're going to Melromarc's capital city, but I couldn't care less about the queen. My target is Aultcray, and when I see that bastard, he's going to die. Along with anyone else who gets in my way."

Upon hearing this, Melty let out a small gasp, causing everyone to turn towards her once again. "...You're going to kill my father?"

"Is that a problem for you princess?" Sasha asked Melty in a cold tone, fully prepared to strike Melty down where she stood, depending on her answer.

The rest of us watched this and kept quiet, knowing better then to interfere. While it was true that all of us cared about Melty in our own ways, we also knew how important this was to Sasha. Plus, if we were being honest, any one of us would've gladly done the deed and ended Aultcray's miserable life if Sasha didn't, so he was a dead man no matter what.

However, Melty ended up surprising all of us, as she gathered her resolve, put on a brave face, and looked Sasha straight in the eye. "Please believe me Sasha, I do wish it didn't have to be this way, but there's absolutely no denying it now. My father, King Aultcray, is a truly evil being. What else would you call someone who declares war on an entire kingdom for no good reason, nearly wipes out an entire race of living beings, causes the death of his own younger sister, and allows atrocities like this to happen to mere children?" The princess gestured to all the demi-human bones in the cell beside us, then continued to speak. "I do wish that there was another way, but I'm afraid even I am at a loss. If you wish to execute the king, then I wont stop you. Its become very clear to me that this world would be far better off without him in it."

Melty's answer caught us all completely by surprise. Even Sasha wasn't expecting an answer like that from the young princess, but after it finally sunk in, me, Roxanne, Plum, and even Sasha all smiled at the blue haired girl. As strange as it was for a ten year old girl to be okay with her own father's death, we were all very proud of her at that moment, as Sasha held her right hand out to the princess. "I have to admit, for such a young human, you're pretty strong Melty. And I'm not just talking about your magic power. I'm still going to be keeping an eye on you, but maybe, just maybe, there's hope for this kingdom if you're the one sitting on the throne one day."

Seeing and hearing this, Melty smiled back at Sasha, and slowly grabbed her hand, shaking it a few times. "Thank you Sasha. Ill be counting on all of you to get me home safely. And I give you my word, once I'm queen of Melromarc, nothing like what my father did will ever happen again. My faith is in the shield hero and his companions. I hope one day you can all put your complete faith in me as well."

Once Sasha and Melty let go of each other's hands, I approached her with a smile on my face, and began to gently rub the top of her head. "You're not quite there yet Melty, but everything you just said was a major step in the right direction for sure. Nicely done."

My words and actions caused a small blush to appear on Melty's face, but they also made her smile again as well. "Think nothing of it Damian. Ill always be on your side. Its the least I can do after all that you and your companions have done for me."

With that, all of our business in Idol's dungeon was said and done. So, after me, Plum, and Sasha picked up one demi-human child each, and put them on our shoulders, we all headed back to the exit, feeling much better after settling several important matters.

X

As soon as we were all out of the dungeon, and back in the courtyard, Plum turned back towards the dungeon, and stomped her foot on the ground. Seconds later, the entire dungeon was destroyed, and buried deep beneath the earth under it, preventing anyone from ever using it again, and giving all the dead demi-humans inside of it a more proper burial.

Now that that was done, me, Plum, and Sasha put the kids back down on the ground, and I smiled at my scaly companion and her handy work. "Great job as always Plum. And don't worry Sasha. You'll get your chance to kill the king. Count on it."

"Thank you Damian. And after he's dead, I would really like to see my homeland again, and begin to restore my people to their former glory." Sasha said to me with a smile, even though we hadn't planned that far ahead just yet.

Just then, a smirk appeared on Roxanne's face, as she snuck up behind Sasha, and couldn't help giggling a bit for some reason. "Speaking of former glory, lets see if this little trick still works." Before Sasha had the chance to react, Roxanne moved her right hand under Sasha's chin, and began to gently scratch her there.

At first, Sasha gasped, and tried to resist, but that didn't last long at all. After just five seconds of trying to fight it, Sasha smiled, started to blush, and began to purr like a real cat would. Not only that, but her tail began to slowly sway back and forth, and her ears twitched a few times as well. "Prrrrr...Oh yeah...Prrrrr...That's the stuff..." Sasha said in between purrs, sounding almost like she was in a trance or something.

All the while, the rest of us couldn't help laughing at least a little the moment we saw this. Sasha had more then proven herself to be a strong, remorseless demi-human warrior, but even she had her weak points it seemed.

Roxanne giggled a bit more too, unable to get over how adorable Sasha was in her current state. Still, she knew how Sasha felt about it, so she stopped scratching under her chin after a good three minutes.

The second Roxanne stopped, Sasha snapped out of the trance she was in, but continued to blush. In fact, almost her entire face turned red, as she still remembered everything that just happened, and that we all saw it. The hakuko then turned towards the kitsune, and shot her a glare. "Roxie...I told you never to do that in front of other people!"

Roxanne couldn't help giggling a bit more before responding, continuing to smirk as she faced her big sister. "Sorry Sasha. You're just so cute when you purr like that, and when you're embarrassed of course."

Sasha continued to blush and glare at her little sister, while the rest of us did our best to hold in our laughter. Fortunately for Sasha, the sounds of the still rioting demi-humans recaptured the attention of everyone in our group.

"Good. Sounds like they're still here. Like we told you earlier, they came to help us save you Reichnott. You should go let them know that you're okay, and take these three kids with ya." I reminded the nobleman, knowing that the three demi-human children we saved will be safe and happy in his territory.

Reichnott gave me a smile and a nod, as all three children rushed to his sides. "Yes, I believe you're right sir shield hero."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the ground started to shake, and for once it wasn't Plum's doing. "What the hell was that?" I asked, not seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary.

Of course, I didn't have any special senses, unlike my three lovely companions, as they all gasped and sensed something right away. "So much rage...Over there!" Plum quickly pointed out the source of the tremors for those of us who couldn't sense magic or emotions, sensing a great deal of rage coming from that same spot for some unknown reason.

All of us turned, and the source was revealed to be the center of the courtyard. The pillar located in that spot had begun to glow, and a human servant from Idol's mansion was currently kneeling down in front of it. "Oh might God, please hear my prayer! Break this seal, and strike down the devils who killed my lord Idol Rabier!" In his hands was a Three Heroes Church pendent, and immediately after he finished his prayer, a powerful magic seal appeared all around the pillar in the center of the courtyard, causing the ground to shake even more violently then before.

None of us were sure what was going on at first, except for Reichnott, who suddenly let out a gasp of shock. "I don't believe it! It cant be!"

"Ya wanna clue us in please?!" I asked Reichnott, as I glanced at him, and raised my shield, getting the feeling that another fight was coming on.

"The legendary heroes of the past built that stone pillar to seal away a powerful monster forever! That servant is trying to remove the seal!" Reichnott gave us a short, but informative answer.

Unfortunately for us, he was too late. The seal disappeared, and large cracks began to form in the ground all around the pillar, getting bigger and bigger by the second. "Yes, I've set you free! Now go! Bring divine judgement down upon the devil of the shield and his evil companions!" The servant smiled as he yelled, overjoyed that he was able to break the seal, as strong magic power quickly flowed from the cracks in the ground.

However, his efforts were not rewarded. About a minute after the seal was broken, a huge, very monstrous-looking beast appeared, shattering the pillar, and letting out a loud roar upon its release. And the next thing it did after that was look down at the human in front of it, open its giant mouth, and devour said human in one bite.

The servant screamed in terror and agony right up until his death, but that didn't stop the monster from swallowing his dead body down once he was dead. After that, the monster turned his gaze towards us, took a few steps towards us, and let out an even louder roar then a moment ago, causing the very air all around us to shake violently.

Seeing this, I move to the front of our group, and raised my shield as fast as I could, as we all did our best to stand our ground until the monster's show of force was over. This turn of events once again proved that someone in this world was out to get us, but the more I looked at the new and powerful monster before us, the more I found myself grinning. "Hell yeah! Bring it on! Ill make an awesome new shield out of you big guy!"

**Well, it seems as though Damian is getting better at adapting to adversity. That's good, but will it be enough to overcome this new, powerful, and terrifying monster? As always, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Now wont we?**

**On the bright side, Damian's party has a new and powerful ally of their own, and she is not to be taken lightly. That's for damn sure. Additionally, Roxanne has added dark magic to her arsenal. How awesome is that?! Pretty awesome Id say, though Idol might not think so, but I'm pretty sure we wont be seeing him again any time soon. Or ever.**

**It also seems as though Melty has accepted the fact that her douchebag father is beyond help, and must be killed. Good for you kid! However, it appears that Damian seems to be harboring some doubts in his heart. What's that all about?**

**Will our heroes be able to reach the queen, and kill the king? Or will they meet their end along the way? And what sorts of other adversities await them as their adventure continues? The answers to all these questions and more will come, and some of them just might surprise you.**

**Until then, stay safe, stay cool, and I hope to see you all again next time! Later!**


End file.
